THE FATE a weekend family festival near Leamington hangs in the balance after last year’s event attracted numerous complaints.
Members of Warwick District Council’s Licensing Committee will meet to consider whether to rubber stamp a temporary event notice for Goa Cream on land adjacent to Chesford Bridge House in Blackdown when it meets on Thursday (June 8).
WDC received an application for the temporary event notice from organiser Piers Ciappara for the event taking place on September 15 for three days.
The event is described on the application form as a charity fundraiser in the form of a weekend family festival.
There will be workshops covering yoga, thai chi, dance and crafts, as well as entertainment from DJ’s playing dance music. Accommodation is camping along with glamping and space for live-in vehicles. Participants can self-cater, while there will be several food stalls, a cafe and a bar on site.
But the licensing committee has been urged to carefully consider whether to give the go-ahead to this year’s event after last year’s attracted numerous complaints about the noise, as well as raising highway safety concerns.
Members of the committee will have two options before them to choose from – either to issue a counter notice for the event which will prevent it from taking place or to allow the event to take place as applied for.
The temporary event notice covers the sale of alcohol, the provision of regulated entertainment and the provision of late night refreshment.
The festival is scheduled to take place on September 15 from 4pm until 3am, September 16 from 11am until 3am and September 17 from 11am until midnight.
When an application was submitted for the event to take place in 2022, Environmental Health and Warwickshire Police both objected. These initial objections were addressed by reducing the hours of the festival, which would have seen it go on until 6am on the second day of the event, and a Noise Management Plan to mitigate extraneous noise from the site to limit the impact on local residents was drawn up.
Despite this, 17 complaints were still received about the noise and residents’ safety concerns were also raised due to the additional traffic onto Bericote Road and the A452.
Environmental health officers are recommending the licensing committee object to the event going ahead on the basis it attracted numerous complaints about the noise last year, despite mitigation measures being put in place.
