The organisers of one of Cornwall’s most popular music festivals have applied to hold a second three-day event next year.
However, their licensing application has been opposed by a Cornwall Council environmental protection officer due to noise concerns.
Quick Panda Productions Ltd – which stages the Great Estate Festival at Scorrier House, near Redruth – has applied for the variation of a premises licence to extend its one-day Live at Scorrier House concert to three days of music event over the August bank holiday.
The company already has permission for the 12,000-capacity Great Estate and Live at Scorrier House, which has permission for up to 9,999. The Great Estate, which runs from May 30 to June 1 next year, has already announced Supergrass and the Happy Mondays among its line-up.
The new plan for a second three-day event has not received any objections from Trading Standards, Devon and Cornwall Police, the fire and rescue authority or health and safety.
However, Cornwall Council’s environmental protection officer (EPO) has objected, stating: “Community Protection is concerned that an increase in event days and proximity to residential dwellings it cannot adequately promote the prevention of public nuisance objective in the proposed location.
“An increase in festival events at this location is in our professional view and experience likely to cause a significant noise disturbance to residents in the area and the application form does not provide any evidence to demonstrate that the applicant will be able to prevent a public nuisance, only that they will comply with the current licence conditions.
“Based on our experience of the Great Estate Festival and the one-day Live at Scorrier House event on the same licence, any music played will be clearly audible at nearby noise sensitive receptor and an increase in event days would not be in our opinion acceptable.”
One of the Great Estate’s organisers Ben Hall wrote to the EPO outlining how the extended Live at Scorrier House event would look. He said: “Our intention is to operate one of the nights as a silent disco, one of the nights as a main headline act as we have done so previously and the other as a concert-style evening, with each night finishing the live music at 11pm.
“As you know, we are very conscious of keeping good relations with the locals, we have a very good track record of complying with the licensing objectives and have had very positive support from police licensing and always like to work closely with yourself and other authorities to ensure the events are delivered in a responsible and professional manner.”
The protection officer responded: “There is now a substantial amount of residential properties in close proximity to the Scorrier Estate due to new housing developments and this year we received noise complaints some distance away, possibly due to wind direction.
“As the application currently stands we would have to object unless there is some reduction in the sound levels, hours and a more concrete offering in the application – i.e. silent disco written down as the only activity on the Friday.”
Other sites in Cornwall have been given licences to hold multiple festivals, such as the Port Eliot estate near Saltash. However, the council’s EPO says that each site is judged on its own merits and location.
A decision on the Scorrier Estate festival will be made by a Cornwall Council licensing committee on Wednesday, December 18.
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