Court on Sloping Ground Questions Checklist

Write down which way the ground falls across the proposed area, and whether it falls along the playing direction, across it, or both.

A fall across the short dimension and one along the long dimension produce quite different projects on the same slope.

Photograph the area from both ends and from each side, standing far enough back that the fall is visible in the image.

Photographs taken from the top of a slope flatten it, which is why owners and designers so often picture different sites.

Mark the corners of the proposed area with canes and photograph them, so the extent and the ground under it can be seen together.

Marking the extent on the ground is the cheapest thing an owner can do and changes most people's view of the project.

Note whether the slope is even or whether there are steps, hollows, benches or a steeper part, and mark those on a sketch.

An uneven slope is a different problem from a consistent one, and the irregularities are where the surprises come from.

Ask what kind of survey a designer would want before saying anything about levels, and treat that as the next step rather than a formality.

Nearly every answer in this checklist depends on a survey, and commissioning it early is what makes the rest useful.

Levels, volumes and what a platform requires are determinations made by qualified professionals from a survey of the actual site.

Write down what you know about the ground itself, including any previous investigation, made ground, springs or ground that stays wet.

What the ground is decides much of what an earthworks project costs the site, and the owner usually holds the only history of it.

Ask where the finished platform level would sit relative to the existing ground at each end, and get that shown on a sketch section.

A section through the site is the single drawing that makes this project understandable, and it is rarely produced unless asked for.

Ask roughly how much of the platform is formed by cutting into the slope and how much by building the ground up.

The two halves behave differently afterwards, and knowing the split is what makes the retaining and drainage questions sensible.

Ask what is involved where ground is built up, and what that means for the playing surface sitting above it later.

Ground that is built rather than found carries its own requirements, and the surface above reports on how well that went.

How ground may be built up, and what that requires, is determined by qualified engineering and geotechnical professionals for the particular site.

Ask what cutting into the slope might expose, including wet ground, rock, made ground or anything previously buried there.

What the cut reveals is the commonest reason a project's scope changes after it has started.

Ask whether sitting the platform lower or higher on the slope changes the amount of work, and ask for the options side by side.

Small changes in the chosen level make large changes to the earthworks, and the options are rarely offered unprompted.

Ask honestly whether a flatter position exists anywhere on the site, and what would be lost by using it instead.

This question closes more sloping court projects than any technical answer does, and it is cheapest asked first.

Ask what holds the level difference at each edge of the platform, and get a plain answer for every side rather than for the site generally.

Different edges frequently get different answers, and the awkward one is usually the edge nobody discussed.

Ask whether each difference is to be held by a graded bank or by a structure, and what room each of those needs.

A bank needs horizontal room the site may not have, which is what pushes these projects towards structures.

Anything retaining ground is structural work designed by a qualified engineer from ground investigation, and requirements vary by site.

Ask what having a retaining structure on the project brings with it, including investigation, design, drainage behind it and later duties.

The structure is not simply a wall added to a court project; it changes what the project is.

Note where any level difference would sit close to a boundary, a neighbour's ground, a building or a right of way.

Proximity to a boundary removes options and adds parties, and it is the constraint most often noticed last.

Ask what happens to water behind any retaining structure, and where it is taken, recording the answer rather than assuming it is handled.

Drainage behind a retaining structure is part of the structure, and it is invisible once the job is finished.

Ask what the finished arrangement would mean for digging, planting or building near it afterwards, and write that answer down.

A retaining structure brings a zone around it that the owner inherits and cannot see, and it should be known before it exists.

Ask what has to be confirmed with the local authority about a change of ground levels and anything built to hold them, before committing.

Level changes and retaining structures raise local questions of their own, separate from anything about drainage or the playing surface.

What consent or notification applies to changing ground levels or building a retaining structure is confirmed with the local authority and varies by location.

Ask whether excavated material leaves the site or is used on it, who decides that, and what it would be used for.

Material intended to be spread somewhere on the site changes the ground a second time, in a way nobody described.

Where excavated material may be taken, spread or retained is confirmed with the local authority, since requirements vary by location.

Ask where material stands during the work, mark that area on a plan, and note what is currently growing or happening there.

The standing area is chosen on the first morning by whoever arrives, unless it was chosen earlier by somebody who cared.

Ask whether the material coming out is suitable for building the platform up, or whether that requires something brought in.

Owners reasonably assume what comes out goes back in, and that is a question rather than an assumption.

Walk the route lorries and machines would take from the road, note every gate, corner, verge and soft area, and photograph it.

Access is what decides whether material can leave at all, and on many sloping sites it decides the whole project.

Ask what the rest of the ground would look like afterwards if material is spread, and ask for that to be described rather than assumed.

A field regraded around a platform is a different place, and the description is worth having before rather than after.

Decide what neighbours and users are told in advance about lorry movements, noise and access, and who tells them.

Earthworks traffic is the part of a court project that other people experience, and it is easier discussed before it starts.

Record where water currently runs across the area in wet weather, with dated photographs and a short video if you can do it safely.

Nobody can reconstruct this afterwards, and it is the observation a drainage designer most wants from an owner.

Stay clear of moving water and unstable ground; where conditions are unsafe, observe from a distance and leave the rest to professionals.

Note what lies uphill of the proposed platform, including fields, tracks, roofs, paving or a neighbouring property that sheds water down.

A platform cut into a slope intercepts everything above it, and what is above is the part owners rarely think of as theirs.

Ask where water arriving from uphill would be taken once the platform exists, where it discharges, and who confirmed that it may.

Intercepted water has to go somewhere, and away is not a destination that anybody can build.

Note what lies below the site, including buildings, neighbouring land, a road or a watercourse, and whether anything there already floods.

Everything about a sloping site eventually arrives at the bottom of the hill, and that is where objections come from.

Ask where surplus water goes when the drainage is full and rain has not stopped, and ask for that route to be drawn.

On a slope this route is real, fast and directed at whatever is downhill, which makes it worth naming early.

Confirm with the local authority and the drainage undertaker what applies to discharging water from this site, and record what you are told.

The answer is local, it changes what is possible, and it is generally sought after a scheme has been designed.

What may discharge where, and what consent is required, is determined by the relevant authority and varies by location and project.

Ask for the whole footprint to be marked out, including run-off margins, banks, drainage and anything holding the level difference.

Owners picture the playing area and the project occupies the footprint, and the two are marked out very differently.

Ask how much horizontal room any graded bank needs on each side, and mark that on the ground alongside the platform itself.

Banks are the quiet consumer of a sloping site, and their extent is rarely visible until it has been pegged out.

Walk the marked footprint and write down what is inside it now, including planting, trees, a lawn, a store or somewhere people use.

This turns an abstract footprint into a list of things the household or club is giving up.

Note whether people, mowers and machines can still get around the site afterwards, including to anything lying beyond the platform.

A platform across a slope frequently cuts the site in two, and nobody misses the route until it has gone.

Consider how the platform and its edges would look from the house, from neighbouring ground and from any public view, and note that now.

A level structure set into a slope reads very differently from a court on flat ground, and appearance is an owner judgement.

Record what the sloping position asks for against what a flatter position would, and keep both descriptions before deciding.

The comparison is the useful output of this checklist, and it is only possible before somebody has committed to a position.

Ask who would maintain any bank or structure afterwards, how it is reached, and what equipment would be needed to work on it.

A graded bank is an inherited upkeep duty attached to the platform, and it never features in the conversation about a playing surface.