Agenda and minutes

The Democratic Services Officer read out the procedure.

There were none.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

There was none.

The Chair explained the procedure to be followed for the hearing of the licensing application.

Applicant: Mini V Ltd, represented by Daniel Hurring and Luke Hassell

Other Persons: Sally Monkhouse, Mr Keith Betton (Director, Chew Valley Caravan Park), Cllr Brent (Stowey Sutton Parish Council), and Mr and Mrs Harvey, represented by Cllr Vic Pritchard

Responsible Authority: Suzanne McCutcheon (Education and Enforcement Manager)

The parties confirmed that they understood the procedure to be followed for the hearing.

The Public Protection Team Leader summarised the application. He reported that a representation had been received from the Education and Enforcement Manager in respect of the licensing objective of public safety, and that eight representations had been received from local residents in respect of the licensing objectives of the prevention of crime and disorder and the prevention of public nuisance. He invited the Sub-Committee to determine the application.

The representatives of the Applicant stated their case. Mr Hurring said that he had been employed by Valley Fest to produce an event management plan and to manage the licence application process. He introduced Mr Hassell who would oversee operations on the site.

He said that Valley Fest would be based at Community Farm, Denny Lane. Events had previously held there in 2014 and 2007, which had been well-managed and had attracted 1,000 visitors. This time plans had been drawn to cater for 4,500 visitors, most of whom were expected to come from the South West. Previous events had been held under temporary event notices, but now it was desired to put Valley Fest on a more permanent basis by applying for a premises licence. Planning consent had been granted in January. The event was planned to take place in 5 stages, with the stepped closure of entertainment and refreshment outlets on the site. A traffic management consultant had been employed to produce a traffic management plan and there was a noise management plan, which had been approved by Environmental Protection.

He appreciated that the event would bring a large number of vehicles into the area. He thought that there might be 500 campervans. He had hoped that 500 people would come by public transport, but the local bus service was poor and this estimate had had to be reduced to 300. There would be separate parking areas for campervans and cars. Denny Lane is a single-track lane; a Traffic Regulation Order was in place to control it throughout the event. There would be many improvements compared with last year’s event, more fencing and more infrastructure. He regretted that he had been unable to attend meetings of Chew Magna and Chew Stoke Parish Councils to discuss the plans for the event.

The representatives of the applicant responded to questions from Members and the Other Persons.

The Other Persons stated their case.

Sally Monkhouse said that there had been no consultation with residents, and there had been none the previous year. She said that she thought the site of this festival was bonkers from every point of view except that it had a beautiful view. She was extremely concerned about noise:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.