A SOMERSET household is taking cricket practice very seriously – planning to install nets in their back garden.

Stead & Co Architects, on behalf of the property owner, has submitted a planning application for 3.6 metre-high nets in the back garden of a property at The Barns, in Compton Dundon.

The plans described the installation as a “modest, domestic-scale cricket practice facility within the private garden” of the home, which is in a “small residential cluster” of modern homes.

The nets would run alongside a “tall rendered boundary wall” separating the property from neighbours, the application said.

“This wall, along with the building mass of the adjacent dwelling, forms a substantial and permanent visual screen,” it said.

The nets would be installed over an already-fitted strip of artificial turf which acts as a wicket for practice.

An artifical turf ‘wicket’ has already been installed at the property. Picture: Stead & Co/Somerset Council

“The recently-installed Astroturf practice strip lies unobtrusively within the garden and does not affect the enjoyment or operation of neighbouring properties,” the application added.

“The space continues to be used in a typical domestic manner, including informal outdoor recreation.

“No part of the site is used for commercial, communal or intensified activity, and the existing character of the garden reflects a quiet, private residential setting.

“The proposed use remains entirely domestic. The cricket practice net is intended solely for the applicant’s family, providing a safe and controlled environment for children to practise cricket.

“The enclosed structure ensures cricket balls are fully contained, preventing any potential nuisance or risk to neighbouring properties.”

There would be no lighting, evening use, or amplified sound, the plans said, with all activity taking place during “ordinary daytime hours”.

The plans said the nets would “minimise visual impact”, with steel poles “finished in a forest-green colour that blends naturally with surrounding planting and landscaping”.

The nets would be designed to ‘blend in’ with the surroundings, the application said. Picture: Stead & Co/Somerset Council

“The netting is formed of fine black mesh, which is non-reflective and visually recessive, allowing it to fade into the shadow line of the existing boundary wall,” the plans outlined.

“This ensures the structure does not appear bulky or intrusive, even at close range.”

“The proposal does not alter the residential use of the site, nor does it introduce any activity beyond what would normally be expected in domestic gardens across the area,” the appliction added.

The scheme will now be considered by Somerset Council planners. For more details, and to comment on the plans, see somerset.gov.uk, application reference 25/03072/HOU.

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