![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2_GettyImages-1090813294.jpg\")
File image of resident disturbed by noise<\/p>\nPolice and environmental health objected after residents’ complaints<\/p>\n
14:30, 11 Apr 2025Updated 14:46, 11 Apr 2025<\/p>\n
File image of resident disturbed by noise<\/p>\n
Councillors have pulled the plug on a three-day dance music festival on a farm near hundreds of homes following objections from the police and environmental health.<\/p>\n
South Gloucestershire<\/a> Council licensing sub-committee refused the application for Goa Cream Festival to go ahead on the edge of Thornbury<\/a> after neighbours described it<\/a> as ‘almost inhumane and a form of torture’ from relentless heavy bass thudding through their homes and scaring children.<\/p>\n Organisers had hoped to hold the event<\/a> for the third year running at Yewtree Farm in Old Gloucester Road from Friday to Sunday, September 12-14.<\/p>\n But councillors agreed with Avon & Somerset Police<\/a> and the council\u2019s<\/a> environmental health team that locals\u2019 lives would be made a misery<\/a> and issued a counter-notice banning it from happening.<\/p>\n Environmental health officer Florence Fisher told the hearing that last year\u2019s festival sparked 11 complaints from locals, with one person saying it gave them a headache all weekend and others stating that the music made their houses and windows shake.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cThe main thing is the nature of the music which is really heavy bass and it goes on for hours and hours and is something people can\u2019t escape from.<\/p>\n Sign up to receive daily news updates and breaking news alerts straight to your inbox for free <\/strong>here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe low frequency aspect of the noise is what really travels.\u201d<\/p>\n Ms Fisher said the council department imposed some conditions for the 2024 event but when officers asked afterwards for evidence of noise monitoring, they were given only ‘numbers scribbled on pieces of paper’ and insufficient screenshots of the equipment\u2019s readings.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cWe\u2019d asked for the monitoring to take place over a 15-minute period but some of them were two seconds. It just wasn\u2019t complete at all.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn’t feel the evidence we were given post-festival made us feel very comfortable and have trust in the running of the festival adequately and for the noise to be monitored.\u201d<\/p>\n Police licensing officer Wes Hussey read out a complaint from a neighbour to the force after last year which said the extremely loud noise had a \u201cprofound effect\u201d on him and his family.<\/p>\n Mr Hussey said it was unfair and unreasonable for residents to have to endure so much disruption for the whole weekend, with the proposed music and alcohol sales going on until 1am on Friday and Saturday and 10pm on Sunday, and that it could lead to confrontation.<\/p>\n He said the on-site bars would be open for 15 hours on Saturday, from 10am to 1am, and that this could result in assaults, disorder, antisocial behaviour and theft.<\/p>\n Mr Hussey told the meeting: \u201cWe\u2019re not the fun police, we\u2019re not trying to stop people having fun, enjoying themselves and making a living but we also have to see the other side where we had that quite compelling letter from that member of the public.<\/p>\n \u201cIt obviously affected his and his family\u2019s life quite severely.\u201d<\/p>\n Goa Cream organiser Piers Ciappara told the sub-committee that it was a small festival for charity raising money for Bristol Suicide Prevention and Sharpness lifeboat station and attracted a mature audience with an average age over 40, with many bringing their children.<\/p>\n He said the speakers were directed towards the M5 and A38 last year where there was a lot of background noise anyway and that they could be reoriented to point further away from homes.<\/p>\n Mr Ciappara said they did their own noise monitoring in 2024 but had now contracted a professional sound acoustic engineer to do that, which would be much more professional and ensure noise limits were adhered to.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cLast year we only had handwritten notes and photographs because the week after the event my colleague who had the sound system had a bad accident \u2013 he nearly chopped his hand off cutting the grass so he couldn\u2019t put a spreadsheet together \u2013 but this year we have a professional team with us.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Ciappara said he would agree to reduce alcohol sales to 12pm to 12am on Friday and Saturday and midday to 10pm on Sunday if the temporary event notice (TEN) application was approved.<\/p>\n But announcing the decision, panel chairman Cllr Alex Doyle ( Labour<\/a>, Filton<\/a>) said: \u201cThe sub-committee concluded that this site is not suitable for such an event and that it would have a detrimental impact on nearby residential properties due to the noise and did not consider that sufficient mitigation had been provided that would promote the licensing objectives.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sub-committee therefore resolves that the TEN as applied for be rejected and a counter-notice be issued to prevent the event going ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n The applicant can appeal to the magistrates court within 21 days.<\/p>\n Try BristolLive Premium for FREE without intrusive ads and brilliant new features<\/p>\n No intrusive adverts, pop-ups or distractions! Just our brilliant content presented in the best way possible.<\/p>\n Get your free one-month trial by visiting the ‘Premium’ tab on the BristolLive app now (auto renews annually at \u00a319.99).<\/p>\n If you haven’t got it already, get started by downloading our app here on iPhone<\/a> or here on Android<\/a>. If you already have the app but can’t see the ‘Premium’ section, you’ll need to check for the latest update. More info here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police and environmental health objected after residents’ complaints 14:30, 11 Apr 2025Updated 14:46, 11 Apr 2025 File image…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[9312,381,748,393,10300,4884,528,285,10299,10302,10301,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-14938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-avon-and-somerset-constabulary","9":"tag-bristol","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-filton","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-labour-party","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-south-gloucestershire","17":"tag-south-gloucestershire-council","18":"tag-thornbury","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114327465726694442","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_Goa-Cream-Festival-Organiser-Piers-Ciappara-Left.jpg\")
Goa Cream Festival organiser Piers Ciappara (left) at South Gloucestershire Council licensing sub-committee(Image: South Gloucestershire Council\/Public-i)<\/p>\n