The three member licensing panel met on Tuesday September 21 at Harrow Civic Centre, Station Road, Harrow, and decided to add a condition to the venue's licence requiring the owners to install a noise limiter and ordered that live music stop daily at 9.30pm until the equipment is in place. Mrs Clifford-Varley said afterwards: "I welcome the decision and I'm very grateful to the environmental health team and the panel for the decision they made. "Hopefully it will bring to an end the noise disturbance to our lives."
XXX PUB COMMENT XXX Tracey Kelly, joint leaseholder of The Half Moon, said: "The main cause was one particular resident that complained. We went round all the houses all round the pub and not one other person had a problem. "We're happy with the result [of the review] because we're complying with it totally and we're spending the best part of £30,000 sound-proofing the doors, lobby and windows - a total refurbishment in and out. It's being carried out immediately. "We have live music from Wednesday to Sunday and I'd like to thank all our customers and residents for all their support."
A Harrow Council spokeswoman said there will have been four licence reviews sparked by environmental health officers although they are not part of a concerted crackdown but rather the result of complaints of noise nuisance being more frequent in the summer and there then being a time lag in processing them.
Besides The Half Moon, two other premises have already had their licences reviewed - The Life of Reilly in Warwick Parade in Belmont Circle and ISHQ in High Road, Harrow Weald - while another review application is in process for The West Bar in Northolt Road, South Harrow.
The same old story. Sympathy is of course due to anyone who is subject to actual noise concerns. However, possibly some sympathy is also due to those who have already applied and paid for entertainment permission and who may reasonably assume that this process would have enabled them to provide it.
These council employees have already met and given licensing permission for these premises. As part of this process, they would have taken into account any representations from interested parties as well as residents complaints. These representations would at that time have included the same environmental health officers who are now reviewing the licenses. It also is likely that the complaints which are said to have instigated these reviews would no doubt have been made at that time.
As protecting the public from noise is always stated by those who promote it, to be its object - the question must be, what is the point of the expensive process of additional entertainment permission required under the Licensing Act 2003?
For whether this permission was in place or not (and for any exempt form of live music) - any noise emanting from the permitted activity is obviously still subject to effective noise abatement processes under the Environmental Protection Act.
With the Enviornmental Protection Act and Planning Legislation - the additional entertainment licensing required for these type of premises under the Licensing Act 2003, is expensive duplication and could be scrapped without any effect on the public. The idea that it has any effect on dealing with noise is plainly absurd.