To receive apologies for absence.

To receive any details of Members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the committee.

There were no substitutes present at the meeting.

To receive declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda.

To consider an application for a grant of an occasional premises licence in respect of How the Light Gets In Festival 2024 under the Licensing Act 2003.

Members of the licensing Sub-Committee from the Council’s Planning and Regulatory Committee considered the above application, full details of which appeared before the members in their agenda, and the supplementary information published on the 26 April and 30 April 2024.

Prior to making its decision the Council’s Licensing Officer presented the report which outlined the options available to the sub-committee. One representation was received from the Responsible Authorities; one representation offering conditions was received from Environmental Protection which were agreed by the applicant. Nine relevant public representations had been received. A number of relevant public representations contained information that was not relevant eg: increased traffic, management and supervision of the campsite. Two letters of support were also received from members of the public. The Licensing Officer summarised the history of the festival and the conditions that were applied to previous licenses for the event.

The Sub-Committee heard from the public representatives that:

·       Cusop Parish Council had submitted a representation on the application, following the hosting of two meetings at which no one spoke in favour.

·       The Parish Council and local residents were not against the festival in principle but with appropriate conditions and the effective enforcement of the conditions.

·       It was recognised that the festival was a popular event but the same issues to local residents occurred each year which was attributable to poor execution of the conditions of the licence.

·       The festival could be undertaken with less disturbance and problems for local residents.

·       Noise from the festival was the central issue; improvements to noise from the site had been noted which demonstrated the unacceptable impact on residential amenity that local residents had previously had to endure.

·       The positioning of the noise monitoring equipment was noted on the Powys side of the river but there were properties in Herefordshire that were closer to the festival site and should have such equipment installed. The noise monitoring equipment had demonstrated that the decibel levels had been breached every night during the 2023 festival which contradicted the post event report which reported normal noise levels. The execution of plans to manage noise and disturbance were not properly applied and there was evidence that the operation of the festival undermined 3 of the licensing objectives.

·       A new layout of the site was acknowledged but even with the conditions proposed there would still be significant disturbance to local residents. A finish time of 11:00 p.m. was requested to limit the adverse impacts of noise on the local population. It was explained that the festival could start earlier in the day to accommodate an earlier finish time and at a chamber of commerce meeting it was agreed that the earlier finish time would not be detrimental to the economy of the town.

·       Poor management of festival goers attending and leaving the site was an issue and there should be greater control of intoxicated individuals by the organisers.

·       Crime and Disorder concerns were associated with the festival due to the attendance of intoxicated individuals. Intoxicated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70.