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Contact: Mike McGeary Democratic Services Officer
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Apologies for Absence Minutes: As all members of the Sub-Committee were present, there were no apologies for absence to report. |
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations of interest by members in items on the agenda. For any advice on declarations of interest, please contact the Monitoring Officer. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest made, within the provisions of the Code of Conduct for Members. |
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Determination of an Application for a Premises Licence - Bedgebury Pinetum PDF 198 KB Additional documents:
Minutes: The Chairman of the meeting – Councillor Nuttall – began by explaining the procedure which would be followed in the determination of an application by the Forestry Commission England, ‘Forest Live’, for a new premises licence for Bedgebury Pinetum.
Sharon Degiorgio, the Borough Council’s Senior Licensing Officer, outlined the key aspects of the licence application, which sought to extend the days on which licensable activities could take place at the venue. Mrs Degiorgio advised that, during the formal consultation period, the Borough Council’s Environmental Protection team had raised an objection. She added that, following negotiations with the Bedgebury Management Team, the application had been amended and the objection subsequently withdrawn. However, arising from publication of the amended application, an objection had been lodged by Mr and Mrs Pearson, leading to this formal hearing.
Robin Harris, the authority’s Senior Lawyer (Contentious) asked for the Sub-Committee to be advised of the difference between the existing licence and the amended application. Mr Barrow, from the Forestry Commission, responsible for ‘Programming & Production’, summarised the key changes being sought. He said that the current licence permitted a total attendance of 5,500 people, over two evenings; under the amended licence application, 6,750 people would be able to attend, over three evenings.
Mr Barrow, on behalf of the applicants, was invited to speak in support of the new licence. He summarised the key aspects of the application and pointed to the excellent levels of compliance which had been achieved in noise management since events had first been organised at the venue in 2001. He said that the Forestry Commission was very active in ensuring that local residents were kept well-informed about events, adding that no issues of concern had been raised during the last three years.
Councillor Heasman welcomed the fact that there had been no complaints in recent years. He asked whether the applicant had any recent sound level reports available and what actions the event organisers had taken to prevent noise leakage from the site. Mr Barrow advised that, from 2002 until 2010, Environmental Health officers had monitored noise levels, which were kept to a maximum level of 65db. After that, he added, it had been agreed that it was no longer necessary to continue to monitor noise levels, because of the compliance which had been achieved.
Councillor Nuttall asked if it were known where the concert-goers mostly came from. Mr Barrow advised that, from ticket sale data, it was known that the vast majority were from within a site radius of 50 miles. Councillor Nuttall also asked where those working at the concerts came from. Mr Hough, the Event Manager, said that specialist contractors were employed, together with existing Commission staff. Mr Barrow added that the industry-leading contractors – who were mostly sound and electrical engineers – worked across all six of the Forestry Commission event sites and had been employed since the first events organised in 2001.
Mr Pearson, the objector to the licence application, summarised the key elements of his – ... view the full minutes text for item LSC3/15 |