BLACKWOOD Golf Club looks set to receive a new alcohol sales licence for its clubhouse.
Some neighbours lodged objections to the plans, telling Caerphilly County Borough Council’s licensing sub-committee they were concerned about noise when members attended events.
However, a committee meeting, held on Friday June 21, proved constructive – with all parties signalling they wish to move forward on agreed terms.
The club currently has a certificate allowing the supply of alcohol to members, but has applied for a new licence that will slightly alter the drinking hours on the premises.
This had originally proved a sticking point in negotiations, with the club unable to agree on the hours the police and council officers had recommended.
But at the committee meeting, club representative Steven Jones said the organisation would agree to the proposed hours for alcohol sales and “drinking up time”.
He told the panel the club “complied… already” with the conditions of the proposed licence, which cover matters such as CCTV and preventing underage sales.
The club only holds events “once every few months” and members had started carrying out “perimeter walks” – on the advice of council officers – to check whether noise levels were causing issues for neighbouring properties.
Mr Jones said “we don’t want lots of people” at the club, which is volunteer-run, and added members are “not planning to suddenly expand into” hosting large events regularly.
A neighbour, Mr Curtis-Jones, told the committee he lives “harmoniously next door” to the golf club and wanted to “wish them well”.
But he said the doors of the clubhouse are a “big problem” if opened, likening the noise of music to “an open air concert”.
“They must be closed,” Mr Curtis-Jones told the meeting.
Club representative Steven Jones said new double glazing had been installed in the building, and claimed “local traffic was louder” than the noise created during the last event held there.
Council environmental health officer Gareth Jones told the committee the “onus” to control noise is “on the applicant”, and said the conditions attached to the proposed new licence “will address the majority of concerns”.
Those conditions include the licence holder producing a “noise management plan” and a list of mitigation measures designed to reduce the impact of noise on neighbours.
Staff must also be trained to control noise and any “nuisance” behaviour, and signs must be put up outside the clubhouse asking attendees to “respect the needs of local residents and behave in a quiet and orderly manner”.
Blackwood councillor Nigel Dix, speaking on behalf of local residents, told the committee he was grateful for the “concessions” agreed at the meeting.
Mr Curtis-Jones, too, said he was “happy” with the proposed hours and wanted to “work with the club”.
The committee will announce its decision within five working days.
