Pardubice Businessman Loses Court Battle Over Sports Ground Noise, Vows to Take Case to Strasbourg

Courts in Pardubice have rejected years of complaints from local businessman Holeček over noise from a multi-purpose sports ground in Na Špici park. According to the city hall, the final ruling was issued by the regional appellate court, and the Constitutional Court has now dismissed his last attempt to challenge it — fittingly, the decision came right in the middle of the tenth season of a nine-day sports festival, with the ground packed full of athletes.

Deputy Mayor of Pardubice Jakub Rychtecký (of the "We Live Pardubice" movement) said the years-long legal dispute over the alleged noise had finally been settled in the city's favour. "Sport has been played at Na Špici for decades, and it would be a huge loss if children, families, schools and sports clubs were deprived of this place," he said.

Holeček isn't giving up

The businessman, however, intends to press on. He says he must exhaust all domestic legal remedies before he can take his case to the European Court of Human Rights. He claims the sports ground was built in violation of the city's zoning plan.

Earlier, in 2024, a district court ruled in Holeček's favour at first instance and ordered the city to ensure the ground's noise did not disturb him. The city hall appealed, however, and the regional court rejected all of the plaintiff's arguments.

Judge Miloš Zdražil, explaining the appellate court's verdict, said: "We did not find that the noise from sporting activity exceeded a reasonable level for such conditions that would justify upholding the claim. For our ruling, the noise measurement served only as a reference point — we also had to weigh the public interest in such activity, which is well established under both European and Czech legislation supporting sport. Municipalities are obliged to support sport."

A long-running feud with the city

The city of Pardubice has been at odds with this particular businessman for years. Holeček built a villa without a building permit, prompting councillors in 2014 to amend the city's zoning plan to spare it from demolition — a decision passed by a margin of just one vote. In 2020, he also succeeded in getting construction of the north-eastern bypass suspended and the building permit for a bike path around it annulled.

A million crowns to move the ground

In 2024, the businessman objected to the sound of balls being kicked and hit on the new sports ground, claiming it caused health problems for him and his wife severe enough to force them to leave their own home. He offered the city one million crowns to relocate the ground elsewhere, but the authorities refused and did not change the surface as Holeček had demanded.

Pardubice Mayor Jan Nadrhal (ANO movement) said: "I don't know what there is to negotiate — there's a sports park and a ground that has always been there and, I hope, will remain. And if Mr Holeček built a house there without a permit, he'll have to accept that he's going to experience a certain amount of discomfort. I'm against making any concessions to Mr Holeček — he hasn't met us halfway on anything."

Even so, after ten years the city did replace the surface on the multi-purpose ground with a softer, less slippery one. Officials insist, however, that the decision had nothing to do with the businessman's complaints. "I want to stress that the reason for changing the surface was definitely not Mr Holeček's noise complaint," Deputy Mayor Rychtecký added.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz