News: Objections heard over licence for proposed new events and sports venue in Rotherham
South Yorkshire Police has withdrawn its objections to an events licence for a sports and recreation facility in Rotherham, with work taking place to overcome potential issues using conditions and management control.
Initially the licence application was seeking permission for an outdoor events space at the site of the Guest & Chrimes pitches on Bassingthorpe Lane near Greasbrough.
The application for a premises licence is from SME Enviromental Holdings LTD, the company behind a number of regeneration projects in Rotherham town centre, including The Empire and The Bunka.
Plans show a large venue space complemented with a pavilion and café, plus 77 to 110 car parking spaces. Also shown are seven padel courts and an area for golfing activities - a netted driving range with 13 bays, a chipping area, and a putting area.
The application would be for between May and September and limits the provision licensable activities to a maximum of 16 occasions between 11am and 12 midnight on any day of the week.
With the site accessed via a narrow road, and events proposed that may attract significant numbers of attendees, objections from South Yorkshire Police, the Rotherham Council's Environmental Health department, and local residents were received and the plans have been updated in response.
Diane Kraus, Principal Licensing Officer at Rotherham Council explained to the council's Licensing Sub-Committee: "The significant change that has been made is that the police has continued negotiations with the applicant, and as a result of that, the applicant formally amended the application form.
"Principally, [the application] now seeks for six occasions between May and September, and at this stage the hours of application remain unchanged."
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The applicant has also offered a host of further management conditions including stewarding, vehicle management, monitoring music levels and encouraging patrons to leave the site quietly and respectfully.
Kirsty Leonard for Environmental Health at Rotherham Council, said: "Whilst Environmental Health welcomes the proposed control measures, we consider that they remain largely aspirational and lack sufficient detail to provide confidence that events will be effectively managed and controlled in practice."
The officer told that meeting that the applicant's intention to hold events like galas and farmer's markets was not reflected in the application.
Opposing the application, Environmental Health go on to say that, if the committee are to approve the licence, then they recommend that entertainment and the sale of alcohol is restricted to 11am to 10pm with a maximum of one of the six events being a major music event (where music is the main focus), attracting up to a maximum of 2,000 attendees. The remaining five events may be minor music events (where music is not the main focus) attracting up to a maximum of 500 attendees.
A further 18 conditions are proposed.
South Yorkshire Police has withdrawn its objections but instead put forward 28 management controls, largely focusing on the production of event management plans for each event.
Many of the concerns relate to the use of Gin House Lane to access the site and a number of local residents have also made representations to raise their concerns.
Local councillors gave their support for local events and activities in the ward but were opposed to the application. Cllr Linda Beresford said: "We feel that it is the wrong place to hold large events and has the potential to impact on public safety, to cause noise nuisance, and because of the number of people that could attend, and the time the events could finish, we think this will have a big impact on the community."
Mark McGrail, the applicant, explained to the Licensing Sub-Committee the history of the site that has been a sports facility for over 120 years and the legal agreements in place regarding access and its continued use for sports and recreation now that it is in his ownership.
McGrail said: "The intentions are to put in a new sports facility, a recreational facility and like all sports and recreational facilities, we'll offer a drinking option. Currently we are allowed to do any events within the parameters, so the argument to not be able to do an event up there is null and void, we can still do events up there. This is about licencing for drinks. So if we want to put a sports facility, any sports, any activity around recreation, we are able to do so. The point is that we are trying to control this, make it a safe environment and more community-led environment.
"A lot of issues regarding the access roads and transport up there. Our aim is to create a new facility to add to our projects in Rotherham town centre. We are a ten minute walk from the town centre, eight minutes from the [proposed mainline] train station. The council are looking at a bridge as part of the Gateway railway station, all that area where Greasbrough Road is is all getting redeveloped and this is a link to that.
"This ain't about raves all night, this ain't about music event sites like Hooton Lodge. This is about us creating a facility and creating a fund to create that facility. I am not about to cause mayhem and put Iron Maiden on in the middle of the night.
"I know that Rotherham Council is eager for me to build the sports facility but this is all part of it. Our planning application has gone in but we've held it back for this meeting.
"The reason why we are trying to do this is that the business model is to revitalise the town centre with leisure and tourism, same as Rother Valley, same as everybody else. This is a facility where people can camp there, glamp there, drink there, enjoy sports there, and use Gin House Lane as a pedestrianised area."
The applicant went on to discuss the issues with the COMAH [Control of Major Accident Hazards] in place at the Victrex site nearby, the lack of council maintenance of the highways, and that the sports facility was operating before any of the nearby housing estate was built.
The wider Bassingthorpe housing development was also discussed with the applicant keen to use his land to create a facility that can service the proposed 2,000 home development on former greenbelt land.
McGrail added: "There will be sports facilities, there will be a restaurant, there will be a cafe on there, a community element on that site, we've got padel courts planned. When that facility is done, we still need to apply for a premises licence regardless. This [current application] pre-empts that facility and for us, it determines which avenue we go down. But there needs to be an understanding that it is part of a bigger picture other than just a field getting a licence. It is part of a larger community - 2,400 houses, community, school, everything else.
"This application has been reduced to a point so we are not essentially having events every day. We can still hold sports and recreational activity events but we want it to be a controlled environment where we can deliver something better for the community.
"I am passionate enough to get it delivered, and strong enough to see it what it needs to be. If it is was about money I should sell the land for housing, but it's not, it's about bringing it back into use."
Having heard the representations, the Licensing Sub-Committee went into a private session to decide on the licence application. A decision is expected to be published in due course.
Images: Google Maps
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Initially the licence application was seeking permission for an outdoor events space at the site of the Guest & Chrimes pitches on Bassingthorpe Lane near Greasbrough.
The application for a premises licence is from SME Enviromental Holdings LTD, the company behind a number of regeneration projects in Rotherham town centre, including The Empire and The Bunka.
Plans show a large venue space complemented with a pavilion and café, plus 77 to 110 car parking spaces. Also shown are seven padel courts and an area for golfing activities - a netted driving range with 13 bays, a chipping area, and a putting area.
The application would be for between May and September and limits the provision licensable activities to a maximum of 16 occasions between 11am and 12 midnight on any day of the week.
With the site accessed via a narrow road, and events proposed that may attract significant numbers of attendees, objections from South Yorkshire Police, the Rotherham Council's Environmental Health department, and local residents were received and the plans have been updated in response.
Diane Kraus, Principal Licensing Officer at Rotherham Council explained to the council's Licensing Sub-Committee: "The significant change that has been made is that the police has continued negotiations with the applicant, and as a result of that, the applicant formally amended the application form.
"Principally, [the application] now seeks for six occasions between May and September, and at this stage the hours of application remain unchanged."
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The applicant has also offered a host of further management conditions including stewarding, vehicle management, monitoring music levels and encouraging patrons to leave the site quietly and respectfully.
Kirsty Leonard for Environmental Health at Rotherham Council, said: "Whilst Environmental Health welcomes the proposed control measures, we consider that they remain largely aspirational and lack sufficient detail to provide confidence that events will be effectively managed and controlled in practice."
The officer told that meeting that the applicant's intention to hold events like galas and farmer's markets was not reflected in the application.
Opposing the application, Environmental Health go on to say that, if the committee are to approve the licence, then they recommend that entertainment and the sale of alcohol is restricted to 11am to 10pm with a maximum of one of the six events being a major music event (where music is the main focus), attracting up to a maximum of 2,000 attendees. The remaining five events may be minor music events (where music is not the main focus) attracting up to a maximum of 500 attendees.
A further 18 conditions are proposed.
South Yorkshire Police has withdrawn its objections but instead put forward 28 management controls, largely focusing on the production of event management plans for each event.
Many of the concerns relate to the use of Gin House Lane to access the site and a number of local residents have also made representations to raise their concerns.
Local councillors gave their support for local events and activities in the ward but were opposed to the application. Cllr Linda Beresford said: "We feel that it is the wrong place to hold large events and has the potential to impact on public safety, to cause noise nuisance, and because of the number of people that could attend, and the time the events could finish, we think this will have a big impact on the community."
Mark McGrail, the applicant, explained to the Licensing Sub-Committee the history of the site that has been a sports facility for over 120 years and the legal agreements in place regarding access and its continued use for sports and recreation now that it is in his ownership.
McGrail said: "The intentions are to put in a new sports facility, a recreational facility and like all sports and recreational facilities, we'll offer a drinking option. Currently we are allowed to do any events within the parameters, so the argument to not be able to do an event up there is null and void, we can still do events up there. This is about licencing for drinks. So if we want to put a sports facility, any sports, any activity around recreation, we are able to do so. The point is that we are trying to control this, make it a safe environment and more community-led environment.
"A lot of issues regarding the access roads and transport up there. Our aim is to create a new facility to add to our projects in Rotherham town centre. We are a ten minute walk from the town centre, eight minutes from the [proposed mainline] train station. The council are looking at a bridge as part of the Gateway railway station, all that area where Greasbrough Road is is all getting redeveloped and this is a link to that.
"This ain't about raves all night, this ain't about music event sites like Hooton Lodge. This is about us creating a facility and creating a fund to create that facility. I am not about to cause mayhem and put Iron Maiden on in the middle of the night.
"I know that Rotherham Council is eager for me to build the sports facility but this is all part of it. Our planning application has gone in but we've held it back for this meeting.
"The reason why we are trying to do this is that the business model is to revitalise the town centre with leisure and tourism, same as Rother Valley, same as everybody else. This is a facility where people can camp there, glamp there, drink there, enjoy sports there, and use Gin House Lane as a pedestrianised area."
The wider Bassingthorpe housing development was also discussed with the applicant keen to use his land to create a facility that can service the proposed 2,000 home development on former greenbelt land.
McGrail added: "There will be sports facilities, there will be a restaurant, there will be a cafe on there, a community element on that site, we've got padel courts planned. When that facility is done, we still need to apply for a premises licence regardless. This [current application] pre-empts that facility and for us, it determines which avenue we go down. But there needs to be an understanding that it is part of a bigger picture other than just a field getting a licence. It is part of a larger community - 2,400 houses, community, school, everything else.
"This application has been reduced to a point so we are not essentially having events every day. We can still hold sports and recreational activity events but we want it to be a controlled environment where we can deliver something better for the community.
"I am passionate enough to get it delivered, and strong enough to see it what it needs to be. If it is was about money I should sell the land for housing, but it's not, it's about bringing it back into use."
Having heard the representations, the Licensing Sub-Committee went into a private session to decide on the licence application. A decision is expected to be published in due course.
Images: Google Maps
