Neighbours upset about noise from a Brighton Fringe venue are in the process of calling for a formal licence review.
People living in St Peter’s Place objected to the drinks licence for the green space north of St Peter’s Church, citing noise problems in previous years.
And after a month of the Brighton Fringe, neighbours have complained about noise from loud music at the Caravanserai venue which about 30 yards from their homes.
In February, Brighton and Hove City Council granted itself a year-round alcohol licence from 10am to 10pm, with a weekday extension until 11pm and weekend and bank holiday extension until midnight during the May fringe and festival period.
The conditions attached to the new licence included the requirement for a noise management plan so that sound from the site would be inaudible after 11pm.
But during the last week of May, residents who objected to the licence application after enduring noise into the early hours in previous years, registered their complaints with the council and Caravanserai.
Maja Mayall, who spoke at the licensing hearing, wrote to councillors and the council’s licensing team about the volume during the hottest week of the year so far.
She said: “If we open windows to breathe, our home is invaded by deafening loud music.
“If we close them to try to shut out the noise, the room becomes a suffocating oven – and the low frequency bass is so violently intense that windows are physically shaking in their frames.
“This is no longer a matter of ‘low-level festival disruption’. Forcing residents to live in sealed, overheated rooms during a historic heatwave while our homes vibrate is utterly inhumane.”
Her neighbour Tom Lines, who also objected to the licence original licence application, said: “During the 25 days on which these activities have occurred, without having the legally required planning consent in place, I have had to spend several hours of every day imprisoned in my kitchen, having closed all the doors in the house to prevent the noise from getting through.
“It is the only room that is safe from it. Even then, the noise has sometimes come in through the rear windows, having echoed all the way round this terrace to get there.”
Caravanserai said that the organisation did not want to be a “faceless company” and had attended residents’ meetings, introduced themselves to neighbours and distributed 1,000 leaflets with a contact number.
Neighbours were encouraged to share their feedback directly so that Carvanserai could respond as quickly as possible and so that all complaints received could be logged and action taken.
Caravanserai said: “We have never been over our allowed licensing limits, as agreed with the council.
“We take our licence extremely seriously and have experienced sound engineers and professional equipment on site to ensure this. We are monitored our noise levels with calibrated, certified equipment.”
Labour councillor David McGregor, the council’s cabinet member for the economy, culture, heritage and tourism, said: “As part of our agreement with the organisers, there has been constant monitoring of the sound levels coming from the main output and regular monitoring of noise levels outside the venue and close to nearby homes.
“This has been carried out with professional, industry-standard and fully calibrated equipment and we are confident from the readings collected that noise has not exceeded the levels allowed.
“We do, however, understand that large events can be disruptive to those living near by and have been pleased to see organisers taking a proactive approach to engaging with local residents, including providing a phone number for any concerns to be shared and addressed in real-time.
“We’re confident the organisers are not only acting responsibly and in accordance with their licence but are taking a number of additional voluntary steps to do all they can to make sure any impact is managed as effectively as possible.”
The council is currently applying for planning permission to use St Peter’s Church Ground for up to 60 days a year for the next five years.
The move follows a High Court ruling requiring planning permission when events are held for more than four weeks in a year, including the set up and take down.
I have never understood why people pay a premium to live in the city centre, then winge and moan about festivals and all the other things that go with living in the centre of a city. Move up to hollingdean… I have no sympathy at all, Brighton would be horrible without the festivals and events.
Hollingdean? Might as well go the whole hog and move to Eastbourne 😁
People were there first, the rest arrived later, gradually. Not all of it welcome not all of it wanted or needed, it’s the residents who come first not the piss poor behaviour of the stragglers.
I have never understood why people pay a premium to live in the city centre, then winge and moan about festivals and all the other things that go with living in the centre of a city. Move up to hollingdean… I have no sympathy at all, Brighton would be horrible without the festivals and events.
I have never understood why people pay a premium to live in the city centre, then winge and moan about festivals and all the other things that go with living in the centre of a city. Move up to hollingdean… I have no sympathy at all, Brighton would be horrible without the festivals and events.
This is a new location for events , so the people living there are having this thrust on them for the whole month of May, not just a weekend but every day until late and all the noise afterwwards when people disperse . The event is welcomed but not on this location. It should have been delayed for a year and set up in the new purpose built for events public realm areas in the Old Steine, where electricity supply is avalablle for this purpose .
It’s not a new space for events actually – they’ve been taking place north of St Peters Church for over 15′ years now, on and off.
However, one would hope that the events were properly licensed and run, with true engagement to mitigate any concerns. It seems that the authorities may have acted ultra vires in this respect.
Caravanserai was pretty quiet!!
Brighton is a special place and there are many quiet places to live.. If you live in the centre you will be living in a city centre surrounded by people out enjoying themselves.. It wasn’t even that hot for most of May.. 1 week of heat… Sorry but i dont have sympathy… The amount of joy brought by the festival to people is very important and should be preserved and cherished… Maybe residents could get free tickets and join in with the fun!
As opposed to the rest of the year, when Brighton city centre is famously SO quiet that you could hear a pin drop, yeah? As someone else said, if you desire eternal peace and quiet… the countryside isn’t far away. Even then they’d probably all be up in arms about the farmers working too early within a week. Numpties.
I did come across a local countryside news website once that actually had a residence complain that the local rooster kept crowing at dawn at the nearby farm.
Thing is when you’re sleep deprived, it’s awful. Imagine that for 30 days. It’s fine for outsides like me saying well you should know what you’re getting into if move there, but it’s not always the case is it – 30 days of back to back noise would do my head in. On other hand, Brighton is a festival city and its needs bars, nightiime spaces for the festival. My two pennies – perhaps trial using more existing venues in Brighton in future years giving local nightime business’ a boost and test not using pop up venues in city centre. Or, push the activity down to Black Rock way and test new routes for future bus routes down along marina during festival period. Or just have city centre pop ups open during daytime and evening is shunted down to black rock.
Caravanserie was so quiet this year, you could not hear the music when queuing outside of the venue and it was at a level that people could easily talk at the bar. The music stopped half hour before closing and frankly we were disappointed by how tame it was compared to previous years! I’m personally shocked that the residents could hear deafening music inside their homes. When watching shows in Junk Poets opposite said homes, the noise from the busy road outside often was louder than the show itself (something that residents must deal with year round) Speigal was much louder and later yet didn’t seem to cause upset for those local residents.
It was a great thing for the community and local tourism so I hope it returns next year.
You could barely even hear it at the bar so they are LYING!!