Licence Given to Workhouse Dock Outdoor Cinema
Councillors impose extra conditions to reduce noise disruption
The free community screenings had proven popular. Picture: Everyman Cinema
August 20, 2024
The decision of a meeting of the borough Licensing Panel which met last Tuesday (13 August) has been published a week after councillors met.
The application by the Brentford Waterside Limited Partnership was for permission to serve alcohol at Workhouse Dock in the Brentford project and show films on a large screen.
These free community events had previously been enabled under a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) during July but that had elapsed. Despite this the films continued to be shown leading to complaints from a resident of Lewis House and the intervention of council officers which resulted in the showings being suspended.
The borough’s Environmental team did not support the application due to potential public nuisance and suggested extra conditions that would be necessary for the Panel to grant approval. These included noise limits, no screenings on Sunday and a requirement for a member of staff capable of turning down the volume to be on site at all times as well as the submission of a noise management plan.
Council officers were also concerned about the position of the speakers as these were alongside the screen and across the water from the seating area. They stated that water offers less sound absorption than hard surfaces and they had found the noise to be excessive at times having visited the site during screenings.
Officers told the Panel that the guidance suggested that background noise levels shall not be more than 15dB but that what was acceptable depended on local surroundings. They declined to give a limit for what should be permitted but the applicant said that the films had been operating at levels of around 70 dB following the noise complaint.
The films are run at a loss to attract people in the area and therefore the applicant said it was happy to adjust the volume whenever required. It rejected a suggestion from the Environmental team that Bluetooth headphones could be given to people viewing the films or that live broadcasts of events such as the Olympics could be shown instead of films.
The applicant admitted that it had continued to show films in error after the expiry of the TEN saying it had misinterpreted an email from the Environmental Team. However, it deemed the screenings to have been very successful and wanted them to continue. Although attempts had been made to engage with the resident that had been objecting it was claimed that there was support for the screenings from a greater number of residents.
The Panel decided that the decibel limit for these events should be set at 75 decibels and that, rather than suspending screenings on Sunday, the outdoor cinema would be closed on Mondays.
As the application was only until the end of August, the Panel did not deem it necessary that a detailed noise management plan should be submitted but that it would be a requirement for any future applications.
The panel granted permission for the supply of alcohol for consumption on the premises on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 12pm to 8pm and on Thursday to Saturday from 12pm to 10pm. Screenings were allowed up until 8.30pm on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday and 10:30pm Thursday to Saturday.
During film screenings, a member of staff must be present to ensure that the audio is maintained at a level no more than 75dB measured a distance of 2m from the speakers, and to make adjustments to the noise levels if necessary.
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