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By Andy Mitchell
Local Democracy Reporter
THE barrister tasked with talking councillors into allowing a cider and music festival at Stratford Rugby Club pleaded for a chance to prove wrong the doubters.
The three councillors on Stratford District Council’s licensing panel heard the case for the Derby-based events company, On Tick, on Thursday.
The plan is to hold a two-day event across the weekend of Saturday, 12th July and Sunday, 13th July at the Loxley Road site, accommodating up to 2,500 people each day.
The initial application was amended to shorten the operating hours and to ask for a one-off licence rather than ongoing permission for an annual event in the face of objections from neighbours.
The Cider and Music Festival is scheduled for July.
The council’s licensing professionals made clear that they could see no way for the event to comply with sound levels, general noise and disturbance, and also raised issues about safety of people leaving the area afterwards.
But during a one-and-a-half-hour public hearing, Josef Cannon KC argued the concerns could be overcome – despite the entrance to the rugby ground being between two homes.
He highlighted how On Tick would bring a “well established” concept and capability to the management of an event aimed at a “middle aged and family oriented” crowd.
Worries over the dispersal of a crowd of 2,500 were played down with people expected to drift in and out of the event across 10- and nine-hour days. He also said that the wrestling and boxing elements had been scrapped.
He said On Tick was happy to keep to maximum noise levels despite doubts from the council’s environmental protection officer Ben Ellis over whether they could be achieved.
“We have a noise management plan that positively suggests that limit – why on earth would we do that if we couldn’t achieve it? That would create huge problems for us,” said Mr Cannon.
“We are confident. I am not being disrespectful to Mr Ellis but the best he puts is that he doubts it can be achieved. We don’t have any reason why.
“Our application says we can. Maybe it is one of those situations where we say ‘let’s see’. That’s why we have only applied for the first year, that’s why it is just two days. If we can’t do it, we are going to be on a sticky wicket next year, aren’t we?”
It had already been accepted that the firm had put together a strong event management plan with Mr Cannon adding: “The headline is that it is the site rather than the plan (that is the problem), but the plan is bespoke to the site – that is the whole point.
“On Tick has produced a plan to manage the particular constraints of this site, this isn’t an off-the-shelf plan.”
He also addressed comparisons between this and the club’s annual bonfire night.
“I am not saying, and couldn’t say, that the bonfire night is fine so this is as well,” said Mr Cannon.
“What we are saying is that there is a direct precedent for getting thousands of people, more than the 2,500 mentioned here, off that site in an orderly way at the end of an evening.”
Henry Biddington, the council’s environmental health and licensing manager, told councillors of his “continued concerns” over traffic, people coming and going and emergency access
“My concern is that the location is not suitable for an event of this size,” he said.
Addressing the bonfire night comparison, he contended: “Yes, it has more people but it is on a Sunday evening in November. It is not over two days in the summer.
“As we are aware, Stratford is a busy town, particularly over the summer, and this traffic will only add to the congestion.”
He went on to express concern over what would happen in an emergency.
“If we do need to evacuate, those emergency exit points aren’t particularly accessible and I am concerned about getting emergency vehicles into the site if a large number of people are trying to exit,” he said.
Mr Ellis said the bonfire event was “an entirely different proposition to 10 hours of music on a Saturday and nine hours of music on a Sunday” and that specialised equipment controlling the direction of soundwaves still “allow a certain level of noise to escape behind the PA system”.
“I am not convinced that limit would be able to be achieved at the residential properties and it would be a case of closing the gate after the horse has bolted, that’s my concern,” he said.
“There are no predictions in the noise management plan as to what the levels would be at the residential properties with the appropriate front-of-house level so with the stage being in very close proximity, I can’t see that compliance could be achieved or maintained – if it is achieved at times, it may not be for the duration of the event.”
Resident Judy Oldham said: “Nothing that I’ve heard about noise levels has comforted me at all.
“We get a lot of noise nuisance from Waterside at weekends. A couple of weekends ago we had the Tiddington festival, I could hear that throughout my house without any doors or windows open. To have something in much closer proximity, I can’t help but feel it will be much more of a nuisance.
“The fireworks display is more of a cultural event and people accept it but there is a lot of disruption. People leaving the site fill the road and it takes quite a time for them to disperse.”
Another neighbour Doug Wallace praised the work of the rugby club but insisted: “The problem is the site, it is totally the wrong place. The numbers they hope to attract, it is far too many for this site to cope with.”
The decision of Cllr David Curtis (Lib Dem, Stratford Shottery), Cllr Chris Mills (Con, Kineton) and Cllr Ian Shenton (Con, Wootton Wawen) is due to be published within five working days of the meeting.
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