Plans to host weddings at a Balcombe farm received a set-back after Mid Sussex District Council refused to grant a premises licence.
The application from GivonsBrothers Ltd, for Bucklands Farm, in Brantridge Lane, was rejected by the liquor licensing panel on Monday (October 14).
As well as hoping to host weddings and private events 12 times a year, the brothers needed the licence to cover a mobile bar and a shop.
The application sought permission for live music, recorded music and late-night refreshments until midnight, Monday to Sunday, and for the supply of alcohol for consumption on and off the premises from noon to midnight.
The council received comments from 26 members of the public and Slaugham Parish Council, with noise pollution sitting at the top of their list of concerns.
Adam Draycott, of the council’s Environmental Protection Team, spoke about the need to mitigate any noise in order to comply with the licensing objective ‘prevention of a public nuisance’.
He told the panel that a noise management plan had been received ‘quite late in the day’ but did not meet the British Standard for environmental noise – leaving them wondering about the impact of weddings and other events.
Mr Draycott added: “What we needed was an acoustic report and a noise management plan to give us the confidence to say public nuisance will not be created here. And we don’t have that at this time.”
Applicant Thomas Givons said he had pushed for measures to try to mitigate any annoyance to neighbours, such as the 12-day limit on weddings and events and limiting the speakers used.
As for the concerns about the noise management plan, he added: “If we’re only doing 12 days a year, was it viable for us to spend thousands getting a professional noise management plan done in? Probably not. In fact it would probably be better just not to do it.”
The panel did not agree and rejected the application on the grounds that the applicant had failed to provide an adequate acoustic assessment and noise management plan.
