Limit set for farm 'after noise concerns'

A diversified Herefordshire farm has agreed to rein in its noisy late night events.

Officers were seeking a review of a licence relating to Cradley, because of "escalating concerns", a Herefordshire Council manager said.

A venue proposed conditions including ending live music outdoors at 23:00 BST and limiting such events to between Thursdays and Sundays. Ewen Macgregor, agent for site owner Ian Johnson, said: "We would be content to limit regulated entertainment to 40 days a year."

A council licensing subcommittee agreed to this limit, but with a maximum of five "large/high impact events" a year, after a decision on revising the licence of Out to Grass had previously not been made.

The decision had been put off at an earlier licensing subcommittee meeting until it was able to visit the site, which it did earlier this month.

Council regulatory service manager Elisabeth Laughland told the reconvened meeting she had been investigating noise complaints, monitoring, advising and enforcement matters at the site for more than a decade.

Officers were seeking a licence review "due to ongoing and escalating concerns regarding noise nuisance issues", she said.

Laughland stated the venue had "grown from hosting occasional festivals, to now operating as a private-hire venue and festival site nearly every weekend through the summer".

Local resident John Ellis said he and wife Neeta had moved to what was to be their dream home in the "beautiful and generally quiet" Herefordshire countryside.

But this had "become a nightmare due to the noise", with walls "actually shaking from the rave music".

He said: "We would sell our house, but would anyone buy it?"

Macgregor stated people were doing their best "to try and engage" with the community, while there was ongoing investment in measures to contain noise and a noise management plan was being implemented.

A noise abatement notice served on the venue "is before the court later this month and then there will be a trial at some point later on in the year", he added.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.