South Staffordshire venue limited to one 'rave type event' a year after noise complaints

The team behind Chances has insisted that their events are not like the notorious raves of the early 1990s, and are well-publicised beforehand with security measures in place.

They were granted a premises licence for up to six event days a year at Stourton Court, Bridgnorth Road, by South Staffordshire Council in 2023. But extra conditions were added to the licence on Wednesday (April 2) following a review.

Public health officer Philip Edge called for the licence review on the grounds of prevention of public nuisance. The first Deep Forest event took place on September 2 2023 and sparked 19 complaints to the environmental health department from residents living nearby and in Kinver, as well as complaints to the council’s chief executive, he said.

A second event was held on May 5 2024 and a meeting was held the month before, where environmental health officers discussed with the premises licence holder and designated premises supervisor the previous complaints and control measures that would be put in place. 

Mr Edge said: “The event started at 3pm, the music at this time was a ‘relaxed’ type of music, whilst it could be heard at the neighbouring properties it was not at a level that would constitute a statutory nuisance.

“Officers returned to site at approximately 8pm on Sunday 5th May, at which time the noise levels at the nearest noise sensitive properties (NSP) were exceptionally loud, with the low frequency noise very intrusive. Officers monitored at various locations in the gardens of some of the closest NSP and went inside one of the properties where the noise from the music could be heard over the TV in the living room and was even louder in the master bedroom.”

Mr Edge served a noise abatement notice on the business and people involved in the event five days later. But the notice was later withdrawn to allow “alternative options to be explored” to enable future events to take place without disturbing neighbouring residents.

The environmental health noise team recommended the council’s Licensing Sub-Committee add conditions to the licence requiring a suitably qualified noise consultant to be on site to monitor levels and ensure all events comply with the ‘POP Code’ for rural venues, and for noise readings to be taken from an assessable area, outside the nearest noise sensitive premises. They also called for no more than one “rave” type event, or anything that council organisers consider to be of a similar nature, per calendar year.

Duncan Craig, who represented premises licence holder A & D Group Holdings Limited, asked the sub-committee on Wednesday to instead consider a limit of three events of that nature a year, but said there was no issue with the other recommended conditions. He said that music was limited to 11pm at events and “there is certainly no suggestion the premises has strayed beyond that”.

He added: “The issues are fairly narrow – there are no representations from any other responsible authority. There is a limit of six calendar days per year and you are not being asked to reduce the number of overall events, simply the ‘rave-type events’.

“The amount of noise at the second event was lower than at the first event. It has been noted there was an improvement and they are confident going forward they will continue to improve that position on noise.

“They are conscious they need to manage that and they are confident they can do that. That’s one of the reasons they agreed to the condition to have someone monitoring the noise when there are events on.”

Adrian Griffiths of A & D Group Holdings Limited said: “Everyone thinks of it as being a rave like it was in the 90s – a postcode is sent out and it’s in a shed somewhere in the middle of nowhere and it’s illegal. It’s far from it – it is well-publicised, people pay for it on (online ticketing site) Skiddle and it’s all secure.

“People feel secure when they are there and it’s well-managed. It’s not a rave in a barn in a field in the middle of nowhere.

“I think that’s what has potentially got people’s backs up locally, we need to make sure that wording isn’t put out there. It’s a music or DJ event, we have five DJs playing during the day and that’s how it needs to be mentioned going forward.

“We’re not planning anything this year until after July, it’s not something we’re looking at as the be all and end all. We have all got busy lives, we have to run the house. We have got a space at the bottom of the garden and we thought of it as something for people to enjoy, it’s not a money-making thing. It’s a thing for people to come and enjoy themselves.”