Night and Day, Manchester
Peter Rogers was instructed on behalf of Night and Day, the well-known grassroots live music venue, which had been served with an S80 Noise Abatement notice by the Local Authority under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for noise from music causing a Statutory Nuisance in the flat next door.
This was appealed, and exhaustive monitoring was conducted to establish a robust acoustic baseline of operations over 30 events and to facilitate the preparation of expert witness evidence.
Peter worked with Manchester Environmental Health to explore possible solutions, concluding that inadequate sound insulation limited what could be done. The technical evidence was of central importance in this landmark ruling, where the Best Practicable Means was eventually proven as a defence. As a result, the venue had the notice amended to include reasonably restricted levels. Peter said:
"This makes this the first effective licence to cause a statutory nuisance that I am aware of"
This effectively "sterilises" the residential use, turning back the clock to the time when it was a warehouse and no nuisance existed. Two cases were key to this decision, which were the Supreme Court rulings of Coventry v Lawrence [2015] and Fearn v Tate [2023] UKSC 4. The full judgment can be found by viewing the BBC coverage here.
Lessons learnt: This is what happens when things go wrong at the planning stage - be warned.
For similar help with top-notch expert support, contact us. Whether you are a venue wanting to protect your operation from encroaching residential development and making sure Agent of Change is being implemented, or a resident who needs a solution or to pursue a rogue developer.