A music event set for this weekend has been forced to cancel after organisers mistakenly missed the notice deadline by one day because of a bank holiday.
But the dance party by renowned promoters Highrise, which has become a regular weekend fixture during lockdown at Riverside Youth Project’s car park in St Jude’s, was granted a temporary event notice (TEN) for next weekend (June 18-20) despite noise complaints.
Bristol City Council’s pollution control team objected to the applications for the two events, prompting a licensing sub-committee hearing at City Hall on Thursday, June 10.
But it withdrew its opposition after hearing Dennis Stinchcombe, who has led the Broad Plain youth club in Clement Street for four decades, and Highrise founder Guy Hughes had cancelled the last two parties, carried out tests and were now introducing a noise limiter, having been told about the complaints.
Mr Stinchcombe told the panel he had sent a letter to neighbours apologising for the disturbance and proposing a meeting for anyone concerned at 7.30pm on Monday, June 21, at the centre, which is famous for selling a Banksy for £400,000.
He said the events had been enthusiastically received by the youngsters during the pandemic and that they brought in the only income the project currently received, totalling more than £30,000 in the past year, compared with annual costs of £200,000.
“We’re really not trying to offend anyone but without it we haven’t got any other funding coming in,” Mr Stinchcombe said.
He said the club was in the process of applying to change its premises licence so it could hold the events without the need for a TEN every time.
Mr Hughes said they had not known about the residents’ complaints until a few weeks ago when they had a meeting with the council and police.
He said: “We took three weeks off to give residents a bit of space and did noise testing.
“For these TENs, to ensure we don’t have any further complaints, we are installing a limiting device which keeps a set volume at which music can be played.
“The level that has been set has been done through a number of tests over the last few days.
“We are very confident it is at the level where it won’t be disturbing residents.
“We have done as much as we possibly could after we were first told of these complaints.”
Mr Hughes said Highrise had held 14 weekend events since its first one at Broad Plain Boys’ Club last August.
Senior environmental health officer Mark Curtis said the results of the applicants’ noise tests had only just come in but their efforts to comply with what was acceptable were “admirable”.
He said: “I am now satisfied there is a monitoring regime in place.
“We are not sure what noise level is going to be suitable for them and the residents but there is a provision in that noise management plan for the noise to come down further.
“If they follow what they’re saying, we should not get further complaints from residents.”
But when the panel returned from its deliberations, chairman Cllr Paul Goggin said it had only just been realised that the application for the first TEN from Friday, June 11, to Sunday, June 13, had been submitted to the council on May 27, and that because the following Monday was a bank holiday, that had been only nine working days when 10 were required.
Mr Curtis offered to withdraw the objection to allow the event to take place but was told that was not allowed under the Licensing Act and that the fact there had been an objection automatically killed a late TEN application.
The other Highrise event was granted for Friday, June 18, from 6pm to 11pm, Saturday, June 19, from 11am to 11pm, and Sunday from 12pm to 9.30pm.
