Saltaire Village Society committee is requesting the College to consult residents about such proposals before applying for licensing alterations.
Local residents, Rod and Denise Chambers, are circulating the following letter. They object to this application as they are already experiencing discomfort with late night events hosted by Victoria Hall.
Dear Fellow Residents,
This letter is to inform you of a recent application regarding Victoria Hall’s licence to serve alcohol until the early hours. You may not be aware of this as there seems to have been only a small notice in a copy of the Telegraph and Argus, and an A4 notice inside the hall. No ‘yellow’ planning application notices have been in evidence around and outside.
The application requests for “provision of regulated entertainment between 09.00 to 02.00 Fridays and Saturdays and removal of condition 9.”
I have tried my best to determine what ‘Condition 9’ means, and I believe it relates to a number of issues - to access, deliveries and parking and to capacity regulations. I asked Stacey Clarkin (Manager of Victoria Hall) directly what this may mean for the residents, and was told that her main concern was for removing the rooming regulations, each room’s potential capacity being individually assessed for each event – presumably so even more people can be admitted to events than they are at present.
At the moment the hall has to apply for each individual event that goes on until the early morning. This would go if this application succeeded. As a close resident who is already discomforted by the present arrangements, I can only feel even more concern at this development.
What benefit is it for the residents if this goes ahead? There is an outdoor smoking area that is very close to some houses and this inevitably creates noise. There would also be more traffic and noise, both from the ‘guests’ leaving in their own cars, and from the ones who are outside waiting for the taxis to arrive. This could occur after the proposed 2 a.m. closing! Victoria Hall is flanked on both sides by nearby housing and all the hall’s rooms have many massive windows. My own house on Victoria Road has a back alley which has been used as an outdoor toilet. There are many concerns.
The meeting I had with Stacey highlighted the fact that they already have permission to do these events up to 12 times a year anyway, and this would simply make the management’s job easier - without them having to make numerous individual applications. But, in my (and others) opinion, these are already an imposition and maybe we should be objecting to these as well, and not allowing them to do potentially even more. It does NOT seem to serve the local community’s needs.
If you feel the same as us, and wish to oppose this application then please write a letter to…
The Department of Legal and Democratic Services, Licensing Team, City Hall, Bradford, BD1 1HY.
This has to reach them by 24th July.
Thankyou.
Rod and Denise Chambers
Shipley College, as manager of Victoria Hall, has applied for an alteration to their licensing application to serve alcohol until the early hours at certain events. Residents living nearby to Victoria Hall already experience noise disturbance late at night from people using the outdoor smoking area; increased late night traffic and even their back alleys being used as a toilet. The late night events will be mainly wedding-parties which are mostly the celebrations of non-residents, and it is argued that there is little or no community benefit from Victoria Hall attempting to extend its licensing application.