2 December 2024
SHW’s planning team provides support in Margate noise complaint
Business Space, Planning, SHW News
The Planning Team were instructed to submit an objection letter for a resident living near a public terrace in Margate. A neighbouring bar had put in a planning application to allow amplified music to be played on the public terrace from 11am to 9.30pm between 1st April and 31st October every year. While this would have allowed the bar to host their own extravagant events on the terrace, it would have caused a lot of disturbance to the nearby residents.
The bar had been using the terrace illegally to host loud events since 2021. These events were having a detrimental impact on the nearby resident’s quality of life due to being incredibly loud, running throughout the day, and ending in the early hours of the morning. After the neighbouring residents had submitted around 14 noise complaints to the Council, the bar was forced to submit a planning application to regularise their use of the terrace.
In my objection letter I quoted three planning policies which looked to protect residents from having to deal with nearby disturbances, and firmly stated that a proposal like this flies in the face of what planning should set out to achieve. The Councils Environmental Health Officer also objected to the proposal, stating that the levels of disturbance were unacceptable and that the application should be refused.
After submission of my objection letter, the planning team monitored the progress of the application and continuously updated our client. The Local Planning Officers recommended that the application should be refused. However, due to the number of public comments on the application (both in favour of and against), and the attention it had received from local councillors, the application was to be finally decided at the next Planning Committee Meeting.
Brett Moore, Associate Planner and I went to Margate to represent our client on the day of the Committee Meeting. Brett spoke during the meeting and reiterated what I had written in our objection letter. Amplified music on the terrace would have a detrimental impact on the neighbouring residential living conditions, and therefore the proposal would not accord with local planning policy. The applicant, as well as two local councillors affiliated with the bar spoke in favour of the application, stating that amplified music on the terrace was essential to keeping the bar open as it allowed for them to host large events and attract more customers to their bar and the wider local area.
After much discussion between the Planning Committee, it was decided that the application should be deferred, and the applicant should provide the Council with more information with regards to the sound system they proposed to use. However, a few months later it was clear that the applicant could not provide adequate information that would prove that amplified music would have no impact on the nearby residents.
To the delight of our client, the application was withdrawn, and our client did not have to deal with loud music on the public terrace anymore.
