Weymouth Bay Holiday Park gets its new premises licence
But it's not quite what they wanted
The operators of a proposed new £1million stage and bar at the Weymouth Bay holiday park have achieved a new premises licence – although for fewer hours than requested.
The structures will now have to get planning consent before being built.
Around 160 residents objected to the licensing proposals for the Preston site claiming it would increase their lost sleep and cause noise and light pollution. Many were critical of Haven for failing to consult all neighbours.
Dorset Council has now agreed the licence for films, plays and live and recorded music until 9pm and the outside bar opening until 10pm throughout the year. On a maximum of three evening each week in the main season films will be allowed until 10pm.
The site operators had wanted on and off liquor sales until 11pm every day.
All of the conditions, with the exception of the bar hours, will apply from the Friday three weeks before Good Friday to the last day in October.
The conditions include no karaoke and the live music limited to vocalists and acoustic instruments. Haven had promised during the hearing not to show football matches in the new outdoor area and to fit noise limiting equipment which will limit sound levels.
Residents will also be given a contact telephone number in the event of any problems and will have to maintain a record of complaints.
At the hearing into the new premises licence Haven’s solicitor said the company could choose other legal means of gaining the licensing conditions they wanted if councillors rejected the application.
Haven has promised to set the level of the noise limiter at 71decibels, lower than the maximum suggested by the acoustic modelling for the site.
Residents told the council panel that while parents on holiday might allow their children to be up late, local children living alongside the site would still need to get a good night’s sleep.
One told the hearing that while the music might be limited in volume it would be impossible reduce the sound from 500 people or to stop them singing along if they choose to do so.
Resident Jane Young said the holiday site was surrounded by homes and believed her rights to a quiet and peaceful life under the Human Rights Act were being infringed by the proposals over eight months of the year.
She questioned how the additional sales of alcohol would fit in with the company’s ethos of family-friendly holidays.
“Why should local residents have their lives disrupted?” she said.
Site manager Mr Doug Nye told the hearing that Haven would do all that it can to be a good neighbour and said there would be no sing-along music, no karaoke, no football matches broadcast and the music from the stage would be acoustic sets only.
Dorset Police had raised no objection to the licence application and Dorset Council’s environmental health team had negotiated with Haven moving the proposed stage by 20 degrees so that the sound would be directed further away from the nearest homes.