Bewl Water

Following the acquisition of The Visitor Centre and adjacent area by a private organisation, an application was received by Wealden District Council Licensing officer for the sale of alcohol plus various activities including performance outside of live and recorded music, dance, films and plays plus indoor activities, The council was concerned on the effect on this beautiful situation, the local residents and the environment generally. It resolved to join a substantial number of residents in having professional representation at the Public Hearing in conjunction also with Ticehurst Parish Council.
All those who wrote to the licensing Officer will have received a copy of the Licence which is now issued and a copy of the sub committee’s decision.

1. It was always clear that, as the area was previously used for events and entertainment, the licensing authority could/would not reject the application.

2. Our barrister advises that the resulting decision was as satisfactory an outcome as we could expect. Wealden have introduced a number of conditions and requirements that enable control to be kept over the Operator.

3. In particular all events will require pre-notification to the authorities, which will then require written approval. There will also be an annual Noise Management Plan similarly approved.

4. A programme of events will be sent to all those of us who made written representations. Records of comments and complaints will be kept and reviewed annually.

5. We are also able to require a Review in the event  that there are issues, although at this stage we have no reason to assume there will be. This would lead to a public hearing..

6. The outside events are limited - a maximum of 9 days for large events (over 2500 people expected). A maximum of 6 days for Music events which count against the 9 days if they exceed 2500 people. Other events may have background music with no specific limitations but if they incur offensive noise we can lodge our complaint.

7. With the exception of the Visitor Centre all events have to cease by 23.00 hours while the latter may serve alcohol until 2.00am plus a further hour for refreshment.

We are proposing to form a committee including Councillors from our and Ticehurst and Lamberhurst Parish Councils to monitor the developing situation and to meet the Operators annually as was offered at the Hearing.