Wedding venue granted licence despite care facility objections

Richard Youle, local democracy reporter

A wedding business has been granted a premises licence despite a strong objection from a residential centre next door which cares for adults with conditions such as autism, learning disabilities and Down’s syndrome.

Green Grove Barns Partnership, Llangadog, has run 23 events via temporary event notices signed off by Carmarthenshire Council since 2022. A licensing sub-committee was told the family-run company applied for a premises licence in June 2023 and that a decision to approve or reject it has been adjourned nine times.

Noise insulation work

During a two-hour meeting, Carwyn Rees, of Green Grove Barns Partnership, said noise insulation work had been carried out at the rural venue, that sound was monitored, and that phone numbers of two members of staff were provided to neighbouring Glasallt Fawr, which looks after 29 adults and has been operating for more than 40 years, when events took place.

“We believe that we have demonstrated to all parties that we are meeting all legal obligations and have taken due consideration of the particular needs of residents at Glasallt Fawr,” said Mr Rees.

Barrister Freddie Lewendon, on behalf of Glasallt Fawr, said residents and staff had been disturbed by events at Green Grove Barns, and that while sound levels may have reduced to an acceptable level for “neuro-typical” people, this may not be the case for Glasallt Fawr’s neurodivergent residents. Some of them, he said, could become distressed, angry or confused, while others were “ultra inquisitive” about noise and new stimuli.

Mr Lewendon said the peaceful and tranquil location of Glasallt Fawr, which comprises a farm and four houses and is 240 metres from its neighbour, enabled its residents to live as normal a life as possible and that “regretfully this business venture has interfered with this”.

Competing interests 

He said: “There are two competing interests here: one business and profit, and the other public interest and safety.”

The meeting heard the council’s licensing department had initially considered that granting the licence may undermine the prevention of public nuisance – one of the 2003 Licensing Act’s key objectives. This was partly due to observations from environmental health officers, who carried out on-site monitoring on four occasions in 2023 and 2024.

However, senior environmental health officer Aled Morgan amended his previous objection after a night-time site visit in April this year which followed Green Grove Barns’s noise mitigation measures. He said he could only hear “faint noise” before 10pm, that recorded music after 10pm was “practically inaudible”, and that he didn’t hear any noise from wedding guests who were outside the venue. He described the licence application as complex, and added: “I think we have taken a very precautionary approach.”

Noise monitoring data

Mr Lewendon asked why noise monitoring data from that April night in question had not been presented at the meeting, and why Mr Morgan’s email setting out his change of stance – along with eight recommended conditions – had only been sent to the licensing department on October 3 this year.

Mr Lewendon also drew from written evidence by a consultant on behalf of Glasallt Fawr, who said a number of residents had been disturbed by noise from events, while another had headed towards the wedding barn and had to be coaxed back by a member of staff. “This demonstrates safeguarding concerns,” he said.

Members of the sub-committee wanted to know more about any complaints relating to the events, and heard there had only been one – in June last year – which turned out to be noise from a group of holiday-makers staying in the Green Grove farmhouse. It also emerged that Glasallt Fawr representatives had not responded to invitations to go next door to discuss any concerns.

Mr Rees, of Green Grove Barns, told councillors it would abide by noise management plans, that decibel levels had reduced, and that the bar had closed promptly at midnight at events in 2023 and 2024.

The sub-committee retired to consider the evidence and submissions and then decided to grant the licence, subject to the eight conditions. The licence is for the supply of alcohol from 10am to 1am Monday to Sunday, live or recorded music until 12.15am, and late-night refreshment from 11pm to 1am.

Mr Rees said: “We are pleased to have the approval and are continually looking to improve what we do at Green Grove Barns, and are acutely aware that we need to work with our immediate neighbours.”