The National Trust had asked for more flexibility to hold anniversary events at the Wicken Fen Nature Reserve. Sign up to our free email newsletter to receive the latest
BREAKING news and daily roundups More Newsletters Subscribe Please enter a valid email Something went wrong, please try again later. More Newsletters We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show me See Our Privacy Notice See Our Privacy Notice × Group 28 Sign up to our free email newsletter to receive the latest breaking news and daily roundups Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign Up No thanks, close We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info × Group 28 Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show Me No thanks, close See our Privacy Notice A larger part of Wicken Fen Nature Reserve can be used to hold events, including showing films, plays and live
music performances. The National Trust, which is responsible for the nature reserve in Lode Lane, Wicken, asked for permission to extend the area of the site covered by its licence, which allows it to host events. The organisation said it wanted more flexibility for holding events to celebrate the National Trust’s 125th anniversary. East Cambridgeshire District Council has given permission for the licence to be extended, after the National Trust agreed a compromise to address the concerns raised by a neighbour. The National Trust already holds a licence to host events at the nature reserve, including plays, showing films, live music performances, dance shows, and is allowed to sell alcohol. It submitted an application to extend where it could hold these events at the site. In its application, the National Trust said: “We have considered the impact of the proposed alterations, taking into account the council’s licensing policy and the licensing objectives, we do not feel that any adverse impact will be caused, and the premises will continue to operate as per their current operating schedule. The premises is merely seeking this change in order to have flexibility around hosting events, specifically with respect to events surrounding their 125th anniversary for the site.” Read more: Gypsy and Traveller family gets green light for new homes near Cambs village Read more: ‘I had sewage flood into my house, the village drains cannot cope’ However, concerns about the extension were raised by a neighbour to the nature reserve, who said they believed the change was “excessive”. They said: “As this application is a permanent extension to the licensed area, it does not preclude larger events then being staged in the future which would be of nuisance to the bordering residential properties. A reduction of the licensed area is requested within the existing car park to include only the section nearest to the road.” After these concerns had been raised the National Trust proposed to reduce the size of the requested extension. At a meeting of the district council’s licensing (statutory) sub-committee this week (March 26), an officer explained that the objector had agreed that the proposed change addressed their concerns, and therefore a full hearing would not need to be held. The sub-committee councillors considered the application and decided to grant the revised extension requested by the National Trust. The chair, Councillor Keith Horgan, said: “We have made a unanimous agreement to support the application. We believe that there is no additional risk by doing so on the basis there has been no problems with the applicant breaching any of [the licensing objectives]. We think it is very reasonable to assume that they will continue going forward so we are happy to approve this application.” Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Follow CambridgeLive
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