APPLICATION FOR A NEW PREMISES LICENCE SUBMITTED 17/4/25
General description of premises being applied for -
The Premises is historic parkland attached to what was an old manor house, which
was destroyed during WW2. The landowner lives on the old site of the original house in a bungalow built in the mid century.
The landowner has a current event licence for the site, which is not a premises licence and therefore does not allow sale of alcohol.
We have been holding an annual event on the site for the last 14 years. Improvements made to the estate by the landowner, have made it much easier to access and the potential of the site to hold more events has been realised.
The annual event which has traditionally been held on the site, on the weekend that
follows the late May bank holiday, is an event for Exeter University students. The
event has gradually grown to 7000 students, all of whom are bought to site in buses
and taxis therefore the impact on the local residents is minimal. There has historically been no problems or issues with any aspect of the event, and it is a well-respected and popular event which sells out in minutes.
Due to the capacity and landscaping of the site, It would be really nice to hold other
events such as family fete’s, plays in the amphitheatre, or other music events.
Therefore, we are applying for a licence for a larger physical area, which will
encompass the majority of Shobrooke Park. Not all of which for licensable activities, and not necessarily to be used all at once, but to allow scope for different events in different locations.
This licence would allow events to happen on any day of the year. We propose to limit this licence to 10 events per year where licensable activities take place, in no way contravening the current licence held by the landowner for their own events. Of these 10 events, no more than 2 would be 3 days and 8 would be 1 day. (a 1 day event can span midnight. i.e. 10am – 2am counts as 1 day for the purposes of this application). No event would last longer than 3 days.
We do not propose to operate events all-day every day, however, for example, we
may wish to run a family event on a Saturday running from 10am to 8pm, but further
into the year, on a different Saturday we may wish to run a music event which starts
later but finishes at 4am.We have no plans to run any events later than 2:30am, however, we are applying for a longer licenced period to allow us to keep the site open later than planned without breaching licence conditions in the rare occurrence we should need to – in 2023 we were at risk of having a H&S compliance issue due to having to close the site because of licence conditions, this meant a massive egress of guests that would not be easy to
safely manage. To mitigate a similar situation we are applying for slightly longer
licencing hours to allow us the flexibility to keep a venue open longer in this scenario.In addition, we are applying for the maximum capacity for the largest event that we wish to hold. A theatre event would likely be held with a 400 cap. Whereas the current Enchanted Garden Ball event would like to gradually grow from the current 7500 capacity up to 9999.
We will cap the attendance to; 8000 in 2025, 9000 in 2026 and 9999 in 2027. This
number also includes all staff, artists, security and management, not only ticket
holders.
For events of 8000+ then full plumbing will be installed around the site for free drinking water. However, we will endeavour to provide water stations for attendees to fill their own receptacles or those purchased via the bars.
For all events a site plan and an EMP will be produced and kept on site for the
duration of the event, along with it’s build and break phases. The SAG will be notified for all events over 500 capacity via email. Organisers will attend SAG meetings if requested to do so.
For any amplified events, a licence condition would be that all sound systems are
directed away from local residences. We would request that the sound engineers have a sound monitor at the control position to ensure that sound levels are kept to a reasonable volume. Theatre and unamplified events will generally not require a noise management plan. However, with larger, louder events, such as anything with a professional level PA” (more than simply a couple of speakers), or runs beyond
22:00, then a noise management plan will be created and submitted to the SAG. The
sound operators will be required to operate withing the bounds of the NMP. For events of 5000+ capacity an external noise monitoring company is to be employed who will visit the most noise sensitive locations throughout the event to ensure sound levels are kept within the legal bounds.
At present and within all current expectation. Any adult entertainment will be ONLY at
OVER18 events. All alcohol sales that are not at solely over 18 events will be subject to challenge25. Any events that allow under 18’s on to site will have additional safeguarding policies in place
CONDITIONS OFFERED BY THE APPLICANT-
General:
An Event Management Plan (EMP) (including Noise Management Plan), Risk
Assessments, Site Plan, Crowd Management Plan, Fire Safety Risk Assessments,
Medical Plan and Alcohol Management Plan will be made available to the local Safety
Advisory Group no later than 2 months prior to the event date.
So far as is reasonably practicable the Premises Licence Holder shall ensure that the
event is run in accordance with the Event Management Plan and no changes may be
made to this plan after 28 days prior to the event date unless the changes have been
requested/advised by a responsible authority.
The EMP will form part of the premises licence conditions and it will be the
responsibility of the licence holder to ensure these are complied with.
All events planned will take into consideration the guidelines laid down in the Purple
Guide, Fire Reform Act and all other relevant guidance and legislation.
The safe capacity of the site should be worked out in conjunction with the Fire reform
act and Purple guide where Evacuation Time, Escape route capacities, Exit flow rate
and Occupancy levels should be considered in conjunction with the amount of
infrastructure present.
There will always be adequate security staff over and above the recommendations in
the Purple Guide for the nature of the event. This will include SIA, supervisors and
stewards as necessary. As a general rule we aim for 1:100 security, with additional
personnel on gates, venue entrances and roaming. This brings the ratio to about 1:75.
For events of 500+, the SAG and therefore all agencies will be made aware of the
size, duration and nature of the event. All events will have some form of Event
Management Plan, and site plan. The event EMP will be scaled as deemed necessary
for the size, scale and nature of the event. A full scale EMP will be submitted to the
SAG for events with capacity of 2500 or more. For smaller events (500-2500) a scaled
back EMP may be supplied if requested. The SAG will be made aware of all events
with 500+ capacity, by email, at least three months prior to the event wherever
possible, and certainly for 2500+ capacity events. The EMP will be kept on-site for the
duration of the event, it’s build and break phases. The event will be run in accordance
with the EMP that is produced and specific for that event. The event organisers will
attend a SAG meeting at any point should they be requested to do so.
First aid and welfare provision will be provided for all scales of event. From 1000
capacity events upwards, depending on the capacity and nature of the event, medical
personnel with more advanced training will be on-site for the duration. For events of
5000+ full paramedics and ambulances will be available should the EMP deem them
necessary.
Provision of toilet facilities will be offered over and above those outlined in the Purple
Guide. Our usual practice is to assume 100% female occupancy with 100% male
occupancy added on top – most complaints for events seem to be about toilets and we
are keen to be different.
For larger scale events (2500+) or those with amplified music late into the
evening/night, sound levels will be monitored by the event. Depending on the nature of
the event, an external noise monitoring company may be used to produce a Noise
Management Plan and continuously assess the sound levels (SPL) at various
locations that they have identified as the most noise sensitive areas. On smaller events,
such as theatre shows, or those with just a couple of speakers, the sound
engineer may have a monitor set up at the control position to enable them to keep
levels within the correct parameters.
For the current annual student event, all guests access the site via buses or taxis.
There is no parking allowed on-site for anyone, other than staff, for the duration of that
event, thereby increasing safety and removing any concerns about drink-driving. An
external company is used to create a TTRO, one-way system, and supply traffic
marshals for the duration of the event. For smaller events, we may create an on-site
carpark or allow customers to drive to site depending on the nature of the event and
considering the impact on the local residents. We will take guidance from the SAG and
Highways for the larger events. On-site carparking will be determined by each event,
but there is access in to the park via the western entrance, as well as via North and
South lodges. Therefore giving various options for the location of carparking
depending on the design and nature of the event.
For events where under18’s are allowed, a safeguarding plan suitable to the size and
nature of the event will be enacted as per the EMP and/or as agreed by the SAG
(should the nature of the event require the SAG to be notified).
ANNEX 1 - MANDATORY CONDITIONS
Conditions yet to be entered.