Author: John Brace

The architect Chris Taylor then addressed some of his points. He pointed out that the area had been previously used as a balcony. He said the design of the canopy wouldn’t lead to an increase in noise.

Cllr Ellis (ward councillor for the area) said he supported Mr. Johnson’s concerns. He mentioned the house and flats close by which were all effected by this. He said he was a great supporter of development in West Kirby and that this was thriving and flourishing. He was however concerned about the upstairs and the use of the roof as a balcony. He said if the canopy was put there it would be like an amphitheatre. He didn’t agree with the architect Chris Taylor that the door was small. He said when the doors and windows were open a row was coming out. He said the bar had a poor reputation for adhering to the rules. He referred to the police being called out and asked the Committee to seek the opinion of Cliff Jones. He said there appears to be some good agreement from the residents that the noise was greater. He asked the committee to defer the matter to ask Cliff or his team to make an assessment regarding the noise amplification.

The Chair pointed out that the architect had said there was a small door originally.

The petitioner handed round a diagram to the committee members and told them his name was Steve Johnson. He told them his parents lived nearby and that he had two objections. He felt the application for a canopy was a change of use and referred to a previous application. He felt it was not a balcony, but a roof and the balustrade was only ornamental.

He felt there was no evidence that the structure of the canopy would cause an extra problem regarding noise. He said the design was similar to an amphitheatre and it would project the noise forward and downward. He had been in correspondence with the Director of the Acoustics Research Unit which was part of the School of Architecture at Liverpool University.

He pointed out an important, existing problem with noise. He mentioned out of thirty reports to the police, nineteen had been from music. There was live music and noise from these premises. He felt the worst was the first floor which needed soundproofing. There had been investigations by Environmental Health who were tonight measuring the noise.

He felt there would be noise resulting from people under the canopy. The noise as heard from his parent’s house was 85 dB. He again pointed out that the noise would be projected forward and down. He asked for the application to be rejected because of noise and that asked that the restaurant adhere to current licensing and planning conditions.