Amplified music events at Cholmondeley Estate will have to end at midnight following 234 complaints about a festival which was so loud one local family moved into a hotel, writes Belinda Ryan.
Environmental health officer Margaret Hopley said the four-day Outlook Festival between June 30 and July 3 featured live music from 4pm to 4am and was audible up to 11 miles from the premises.
“The majority of complainants said that music up to midnight was acceptable, however music from midnight until 4am was not,” Mrs Hopley told a meeting of Cheshire East’s licensing act sub-committee.
She said there were cases of “residents complaining they couldn’t sleep, hear their TV or hifi, hold a conversation, that their property was vibrating/shaking, children being woken up and pets distressed”.
Resident Wesley Stockton told the committee: “We’ve all got lives, we’ve all got jobs, we’ve all got to be up at 5/6 in the morning and this is not the place to have a festival of this nature.
“My other half works 14-hour shifts in an MRI unit.
“If she doesn’t get any sleep, she goes to work, she makes a mistake it’s not a slap on the wrist, somebody could possibly die.”
Resident Neil Cummings described the noise from the event as “appalling”.
“We had no sleep. We are the people that basically had to run on the third night because we couldn’t stand the sleepless nights any longer,” he said.
His wife Jill Cummings said: “To be chased out of your home is unacceptable.”
Another resident Keith Slack said: “I was climbing the walls after four days.
“I cancelled my business trips because I was frightened I was going to crash or something because I was so tired. It’s absolutely unacceptable.”
Solicitor Matthew Phipps was representing both Cholmondeley Estate, which holds the premises licence being reviewed – and the event organiser, Outlook Festival.
Mr Phipps told the committee: “The only place to start is by saying sorry and to apologise for the experience that some residents have talked to you about.
“We recognise and accept that we got some things wrong.
“It’s fair to say that we are fully committed to making sure that we get things right.”
He said Cholmondeley Estate has confidence in event organiser Joe Barnett and Outlook to deliver a successful event and would like to continue working with them.
“The estate has a reputation to uphold.
“It is not in their interests to work with anyone who is less than professional and obviously they are disappointed and, frankly, embarrassed to be here today,” said Mr Phipps.
He stressed suggestions put forward at the hearing that the music should stop at midnight on all four nights was not practical – although midnight would be acceptable for the Thursday and Sunday nights.
“This event will not survive a midnight finish on Friday and Saturday night. It is as simple as that,” said the solicitor.
Mr Phipps detailed a number of conditions they were happy to meet – including many agreed with the police.
He later added: “This is the Cholmondeley Estate who are in front of you today who say to you, of course we are disappointed we have caused this distress but that we have taken a careful, considered view and we believe that what we have with us, Joe, is a reputable, responsible, responsive organiser of events who ultimately should be given a second chance. Joe’s operation did an exemplary job.”
The hearing for the premises licence review took place on Monday October 3, but the decision was only published yesterday (Monday October 17).
As well as the time modification, other conditions were also imposed.
vote with your feet, don’t support their outrageous greed
The timings of the festival was wrong; it started at 11.30 am and continued to 4am the next day, NOT 4 pm to 4 am.