Organisers of a village food festival have won their case to be allowed to sell alcohol and play live music after overcoming a neighbour’s noise concern.
The Wing Day festival in Cookham is set to be held on the village moor on August 31. One Cookham resident raised fears that music from performers at the festival would be ‘unnecessarily loud.’
But councillors at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) said there was ‘no evidence’ to suggest that noise restrictions would be breached. They said the event would be ‘good for the community and local businesses’.
The Thames Valley Pub company – which owns The Crown pub in Cookham – applied for a licence to sell alcohol and play music during the one-day, ticketed event on Cookham Moor.
Councillors on RBWM’s public space protection order sub committee held a hearing on Wednesday, August 7, to decide whether to grant the licence.
Nick Billinghurst from the Thames Valley Pub Company told them he hoped the festival would ‘wing over’ villagers. He also said the event would raise money for Maidenhead children’s charity the Link Foundation.
He said: “The theme for this is very much food festival meets village fete.” He added that the organisers take licensing rules – including noise restrictions – very seriously.
It comes after a neighbour raised noise concerns about the event. In an email to the council the neighbour said: “Everyone knows outdoor music events push the boundaries and is unnecessarily loud.
“The event should only be approved for one year (as any such event should be) to avoid the open-ended licence that snowballs and can’t be restrained.”
The objector also suggested that the line-up of acts advertised – including DJ Pat Sharp and Bon Jovi and Queen tribute acts – and the price meant the event was more of a concert than a food festival.
They said: “I see early bird tickets are £22 for four chicken wings and a chance to play bingo. No one pays that for chicken wings and bingo, so I reach the logical conclusion that the music concert is not ‘ancillary’ but a primary part of the proposition.”
The neighbour argued that the noise should be kept at a level that they wouldn’t be able to hear from their home 320 metres away.
Mr Billinghurst said the sound systems for the music and cooking demonstration stages would be small enough ‘to fit in the boot of a car’.
He said: “This is a food festival and although we are having music it is an ancillary element to it.”
Councillors on the sub-committee agreed unanimously that all of the concerns raised by the neighbour had been addressed.
They said the proposal was “a straightforward, sound application for a one-day event that would be good for the community and local businesses.”
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