Neighbours complain they can hear wedding speeches in their gardens

Residents of a “beautiful, peaceful” valley in Cornwall have complained that the noise from a nearby wedding venue is so loud they can hear every anecdote in the best man’s speech when they sit in their gardens.

A number of people who live in the area of Kilminorth Woods, near Looe, aired their concerns when the owners of Kilminorth Cottages at Muchlarnick applied to Cornwall Council to vary their premises licence to extend music to midnight and allow for a pop-up cinema to screen films on occasion. Jayne Longrigg and Julie Howes, who run the holiday cottages, also requested the removal of a condition that only allowed one event per week.

The council received eight representations from 12 people who were concerned about the changes. However, no objections or responses had been received from public bodies such as the police.

Ms Longrigg explained that the holiday cottages had operated as a wedding venue since 2013 and had held around 100 weddings since then. “We very much want to work with our neighbours. Our business is about happiness and weddings. We run a really tight ship – all weddings receive a contract containing our conditions. All of our live music stops at 10.45pm and then switches to PA music around 85 decibels until midnight,” added Ms Howes, who said all necessary mitigations are put in place to stop noise.

Andrew French, who lives in the valley looking down towards the cottages, said a marquee didn’t stop the noise from the weddings spreading through the valley. He told the committee: “Imagine going home and it’s a nice hot day, you sit in the garden with a cup of tea but all you can hear are the speeches from a wedding, so loud and clear that every word of all the anecdotes are heard and understood. It is very intrusive, you go inside and shut the windows, but it’s still there.”

Derek Allison, who owns a property next door to the cottages, told a licensing meeting on Wednesday, June 19, that noise from the venue has an impact on neighbours. “At the end of the day, a band in a marquee is going to make a lot of noise and in our garden it is really, really intrusive. I’m just a bit fearful that it will be more frequent.

“It’s an absolutely beautiful valley – peaceful and quiet – and if you’re outside, not at 11pm or midnight even but at 7pm, you want to enjoy the peace and quiet on a nice evening and it’s really loud. I don’t want to be awkward about what Jayne is doing but that’s how we feel about it.”

Another neighbour Martyn Coleman said the noise is an issue and worried about the “potential frequency of that interference should the licence be granted and how that will impact all of us who live in this lovely rural peaceful area. Normally the only things we shout at are the buzzards when they’re making a noise – it’s that peaceful here”.

He said he wouldn’t want to stop someone running a business and noted that Ms Longrigg had said there would only be a couple of events a week. “But if you’ve got a licence for 365 days a year then it’s game on for anything that she may wish to do.”

The entrance to holiday destination and wedding venue Kilminorth Cottages near Looe (Pic: Google Maps)

Mr Coleman added: “In the summer months when you sit outside, all of a sudden you get the wedding speeches – which other people have stated you can actually hear what’s being said – then the music starts. With another wedding venue nearby you have the potential of stereo noise until the wee small hours. Therefore you’ve got to plan your life around that. You can’t sit inside with your windows open because the bass beat comes up the valley as well as the singing and shouting.”

Rachel Natlon, managing director of Acorn Parks Limited which runs a neighbouring holiday park, had previously written to the council stating: “We promote ourselves as being a tranquil and peaceful location for visitors to stay, this has been part of our business model since 2002. We have also won the Hoseasons awards for Cornwall’s ‘Best Relax & Explore, Lodges and Parks’ category since 2017 to this year.

“Our holiday home owners have also voiced concerns regarding this application, as currently the sound can be heard in the homes when an event is taking place at the cottages. Therefore, we strongly object to this application.”

Ms Longrigg told the meeting: “I want to note the local concerns from our neighbours. We take what they’ve said in their feedback seriously. There is concern that we’d do more events to 12 o’clock at night. This isn’t about doing more events until midnight – we’ve not gone on beyond midnight.”

She added that licensing conditions had alleviated issues associated with weddings initially held at the venue and historic complaints had not reoccurred. She said in the last few months they received a text message from a neighbour complaining about noise, but the sound was coming from another wedding venue in the area.

“The majority of our weddings come from out of county and bring much-needed revenue into our local economy in Looe. This isn’t about us running a loud venue 365 days a year, we want to manage and grow our business,” added Ms Longrigg.

Although noting the concerns raised, the committee agreed to the licence changes. They noted that the council had not received any complaints about previous events at the site. A review of the licence could happen if the authority received any noise complaints in the future.