Councillors raise noise and road network concerns over premises licence bid by Copas Traditional Turkeys

Councillors raised concerns over noise and the road network when discussing an application for a new premises licence at Copas Traditional Turkeys.

The application seeks permission for a premises licence for entertainment such as live music, films and the performance of plays on its land at Kings Coppice Farm from 7am to 11pm Monday to Sunday.

It also seeks permission to sell alcohol on and off the premises from Monday to Sunday, between 6am and midnight.

While the priority focus of the farming business is its turkeys, the company also hosts events and musical entertainment at the farm during the Christmas period and at other occasions in the year.

Some of these include the Christmas fair, cooking and carving displays.

As well as meat, the company also sells other items such as alcoholic beverages such as gin, local wines and champagnes, which are mainly included in its hampers.

The business has been using temporary event notices (TENs) for several

years, which permit temporarily licensable activities such as selling alcohol or providing entertainment at premises that do not hold a full premises licence.

However, at a meeting of the licensing and public space protection order (PSPO) sub committee on Wednesday, Tom Copas, representing the business, discussed why the company has adapted and expanded into entertainment and the restrictions temporary event notices place upon business operations.

He said: “We are in challenging market, as we all know. We are looking for ways to carry on and to adapt in that market.”

Mr Copas added that to date, the business has used 20 of its 21-day allowance on temporary event notices.

“This is because for our own purposes we keep one day in hand so that if we have any emergencies, breakdowns, delays, that we have [an] additional day,” Mr Copas said.

“We have to use those 21 days for not only the sale of alcohol for events, but also for dispatching our orders.

“With a TENs licence, you have to have breaks in between them, they can’t continue [to] run back to back.

“So, any product which

has alcohol in it such as hampers, our high value items, as well as our gin products and other local products we sell, we have to take them on and off sale. So it ends up being very confusing for our team to administer but also for our customers.”

Having a premises licence would allow the company to continually sell these products.

The application was brought to the panel after it received four objections, covering aspects such as noise and public nuisance concerns.

TENs only allow for up to 499 people to be on site, but a premises licence sees this cap increased.

Meeting chair Cllr Clive Baskerville (Lib Dem, Pinkneys Green) said the nearby roads to the farm were ‘quite narrow’.

“It is a very narrow area and getting people in and out of that area is obviously going to be a challenge if there’s about a few hundred people arriving for an event.

“That’s my main fear,” he said.

Mr Copas said that the farm does prepare traffic management plans and does, at events such as the Christmas fair, operate a one-way system. But if the nature of the event requires it, the team can also engage with traffic management stewards to help marshal.

Addressing concerns over noise, Mr Copas said the team are ‘very conscious’ not to disturb people and there is consideration for aspects such as speaker placement for outdoor activities.

Cllr George Blundell (Lib Dem, Hurley and Walthams) asked how many events the business is realistically anticipating to hold over a year.

Mr Copas said the team do not have a list of events ready to launch, but may look to do events surrounding its 100th year of farming at Kings Coppice this year and its 70th year of producing turkeys on the farm next year.

In response to Cllr Sayonara Luxton’s (Con, Sunningdale and Cheapside) questions regarding areas for children at events, Mr Copas said safety is a ‘major factor’ in place when planning and designing the layout of an event.

The application will be decided within five working days of the meeting.