Anyone know about event licensing ie musical festivals?

[TheHorneSection]

We live in a residential property next to an hotel with large grounds, hotel and houses are in the centre of a market town. There are flats and houses all round this hotel, and in particular our little street is built curving around the side of the hotel grounds.

The hotel has always hosted weddings in a marquee in the grounds and we knew this when we moved in. We can hear the wedding disco but it’s fun, not too loud, and always ends at 11 on the dot.

The hotel appears to be deciding to reinvent itself as a festival and gig venue, meaning large stages and sound systems in the grounds. This weekend we have a 12 hour rave festival going on with 3000 people apparently attending. The bass is so loud I can feel it, and the noise even inside the double glazed house is ridiculous, especially up in the bedrooms.

While in sympathetic to the hotel needing to make money, festivals like this just aren’t appropriate in the middle of a residential area. (If anyone lives in this town they can probably hear it!) To make matters worse, due to the odd layout of our road we never get the letters warning us of the event, which event management are supposed to deliver, so barring searching Google all the time for news, we don’t know about it until the event starts.

Has anyone got an experience of what grounds we can complain to the licensing department at the council about?

NAL but search for POP Code for event organisers.

There is a lot of information here..

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/premises-licence-rules-for-events-ds00/

and here

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/entertainment-licensing-changes-under-the-live-music-act#guidance-section

You could also call your local council licensing team for a chat, they are usually helpful.

This is behind a paywall but you could subscribe or find a way to view it

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/ask-a-money-expert/ask-lawyer-parklife-music-festival-next-door-noise-problem/

Try planning. There might be restrictions on use times etc.

I think this is a planning issue rather than licensing. Either way, you go through you local authority.

We have a large church centre which we use for evening activities. Our planning permission stipulates that nothing can go on past 11pm, and live or recorded music cannot be heard outside the building after 10pm. In this light, we say that all events have to end by 10pm, so that those clearing up can be out of the building by 11pm, so that we do not have car doors slamming and people shouting their goodbyes outside.

Licensing is to do with alcohol, and I imagine a hotel would have a permanent licence, but this will also have conditions so that the amenity to neighbours is not adversely affected.

The rules are strict (we've been involved with festivals) you need to speak to the council

You need to contact your local authority and speak to both the Environmental Health team and the Licensing team. The hotel will have a premises licence which will give the times etc. The EH team will deal with the noise nuisance aspect of it. Get as many neighbours as you know who are also bothered to call aswell. The determination of nuisance what will in part be determined by how many people are affected.

Thanks everyone, some good suggestions and will contact EH and licensing first to see what they say. It’s just a ridiculous decision to allow this venue.

That’s a really useful article, off to find the licence they have been given!

You might find that they haven’t let the local authority know of their change of business direction.

Are you referring to Zombiefest?

No, we appear to have a knock off event about 20 miles down the road 😂

I think i know where you live @TheHorneSection@TheHorneSection! It was insanely loud. People could hear it five miles away. I agree, i dont want to stand in the way of local business that will bring people to the town, and as it stopped at 10pm it is hard to be supercritical. But the bass was sooooo loud. Not sure why the moise is carrying so far, is it v loud sound system or just the acoustics of where they are.

I have experience of this. Generally you can make as much noise as you want up until 11pm, then after that there should be no amplified sound. If you complain though, it may impact on the venue’s ability to get licenses for events in the future but that also depends if they have a venue licence or get temporary events licenses for each outdoor event.

I am about 2 miles as the crow flies from Heaton Park, every summer we can hear the music. Depending on the wind, it can be louder than other times, it doesn’t bother us but I would hate to be closer, especially as the road closures can cause havoc.

Yes, it was the bass more than anything. We’ve had big festivals here last summer and while they were long and loud there were at least different bands and a change of music. This was 11 hours of house music with a thumping bass the whole time. I don’t want to complain about all the festivals but the house music festival is totally inappropriate in a residential area. I can’t imagine how many complaints the council will find tomorrow morning!