Noise travelling up the hillside from St Peter’s Square, Brighton, has left a resident with anxiety at the thought of events popping up at any time.
Brighton and Hove City Council is in the process of seeking separate drinks licences for different sites along Valley Gardens. The decision is made by a council licensing panel.
Two hearings took place on Friday (6 February) – one for St Peter’s Square, south of St Peter’s Church, and one for the other side, known as St Peter’s North.
The council is not seeking a licence for a site known as Victoria Gardens North, where the Spiegelgarden was held last summer. It has, though, already been granted a licence for a similar space in the main Victoria Gardens area.
A licensing panel consisting of three councillors – Julie Cattell, Sam Parrott and Kerry Pickett – heard from Ashton Rise resident Fred Corneby.
He spoke about the lack of public consultation and the poor quality of the council’s consultation as well as the lack of understanding of how noise travels from St Peter’s Square.
At the hearing, Mr Corneby said that neighbours were supposed to be leafleted about the Spiegelgarden but they never were.
At public meetings held about the various events throughout the year, he said that he had been “belittled” for complaining about noise and was accused of “ruining” events for others.
Mr Corneby said that he had endured “sleep deprivation, having the pleasure of our home ruined by inconsiderate events hosted by the council (and) no respite from relentless loud music and bass”.
During fan zone and Spiegelgarden events, he said, “we have had to leave our home many times just to get a stress-free evening and a goods night’s sleep.
“Since the council decided to change the gardens at the end of our road to make it an outdoor arena, I now live with heightened anxiety knowing that my life will be impacted at any time for a pop-up event but, in particular, during the Fringe.”
Council outdoor events manager Ian Baird said that his team was looking to take on the leaflet delivery, having been made aware of issues with previous information drops.
Future events in the square would be on the hard-standing space closer to the church, Mr Baird said, describing it as a “much smaller area”, reducing noise levels.
He said: “While this licence is an application, we don’t have any use for it (the area) currently.
“What we do want to do is make sure that we have the right licensing in place so when we have the activations that have been requested by residents, for example, a regular market, that we have the licensing in place to facilitate that.”
No events were planned for the Brighton Festival or Fringe in May, the panel was told, and likewise no late-night events were planned in the area.
The panel retired to make its decision which should be made public within five working days.
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