Alchemy Festival in Lincolnshire gets five-year license despite opposition
ORGANISERS of a Tattershall music festival have secured their premises licence for the next five years despite opposition from local residents.
Toby and Jeff Gordon have been granted a premises licence to hold the three-day Alchemy Festival at Scholey Park near Tattershall for the next five years but must comply with several conditions.
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Toby Gordon, one of the organisers of the Alchemy Festival
This is the first year that the festival has been granted a five-year term.
Last year's event saw complaints about noise from people living in Kirkby on Bain.
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However, this year, the father and son team showed great improvement in the way the festival was carried out.
Jeff Gordon said: "The reason we are applying for a longer license is purely for business planning as trying to run it on a year-to-year basis is difficult.
"We have also requested longer opening hours as that is what our customers want."
The meeting heard from environmental health officials who stated that a 'terminal time' must be introduced for the benefit of residents.
The application stated that an extension to both live and recorded music until 3am was requested by the organisers although this was refused by the licensing committee.
Environmental protection officer Jon Dixon said: "We are extremely concerned that the applicant intended to provide live music four hours further into the night time period and recorded music two hours further into the night time period on the Friday and Saturday nights.
"We consider that these changes are inappropriate in this location."
Speaking about this year's festival Mr Dixon added: "My opinion was that the noise was just about acceptable given the nature of the area, given that the noise was occurring on a maximum of two nights within the year and given that the noise was concluding by 1am.
"I consider that given the large number of residential properties that could be affected, music noise at these levels would not be acceptable if it was to continue until 2am or 3am on the Friday and Saturday nights."
After hearing concerns from local residents it was concluded that music from the festival be allowed to run from 10am to 1am Friday and Saturday and from 10am to 11pm on Sunday.
Lincolnshire Police made written representation for the meeting recommending that the license should only be granted for one year.
Comments
by AndyW
Thursday, December 06 2012, 12:24PM
“I mirror the above comment.It's fantastic news.I have performed at Alchemy Festival for the past two years, and have to say,this year's event was a superb weekend. Also, on the Sunday afternoon, I walked my dog into nearby Coningsbury for supplies, and met several,very friendly locals on route.No-one I spoke to seemed opposed to the festival,or unduely bothered by noise.It's also a good breadwinner for the local economy-or it certainly seemed so in the local co-op!!
Well done Lincolnshire council for granting a longer-running license.This can only make an already well-run event even better
Andy W
West Midlands”
by Voodoo100
Thursday, December 06 2012, 11:05AM
“Excellent news, having worked at Alchemy for the last couple of years, I have yet to meet anyone locally who complains. The festival provides a good and much needed source of income for many local businesses with minimal disruption to the area. Grass roots, inclusive, affordable festival experience at it's best.”