Noise Management for Events Venues
Thanks for reading this article, which was originally posted at https://www.parkerjonesacoustics.com/insights/articles/managing-noise-from-weddding-venues.
ParkerJones Acoustics are a UK based firm of noise consultants, specialising in noise assessments and noise management plans, including for wedding venues.
If you’re reading this, then I imagine you’re a wedding or events company. Perhaps you’re thinking about opening a wedding venue. Perhaps you’re here as you’re starting to put together your planning application.
The point of this article is to guide you on how to approach the issue of noise to give you the best chance of a successful planning application. I write this as an acoustic consultant who has written Noise Assessments and Noise Management Plans for several wedding venues which have succesfully gone through planning.
So, you want to open a wedding venue, let’s start with the following question.
Can I start hosting weddings now, and then deal with noise issues if/when I get a noise complaint?
Hopefully you’re reading this article before you have held weddings or other mass gatherings at your premises. The reason I say that, is that the process of obtaining planning permission is much smoother if you are considerate of the noise impact before going ahead with their plans.
But unfortunately this quite often isn’t the case. Most clients I’ve dealt with come to me because they’ve ploughed on ahead with the plans for the venue, have held weddings, and now have a noise complaint which has alerted the local planning authority to the venue… which leads me on to another question.
Do I need planning permission for holding weddings in a marquee or a converted barn?
In most cases yes. Marquees can be erected without planning permission for up to 28 days per year as a temporary structure. However, this can limit operators to a handful of events because the 28 days includes all the time taken to set up and take down the marquee.
If you’re thinking of converting an old barn into a permanent venue then this would also require planning permission, and you may also need listed building consent.
Don’t forget you also need to think about the licensing for serving alcohol and having live music on your property, and whether this extends to the marquee.
Now back to the main topic.
The benefits of a Noise Assessment and Noise Management Plan for Wedding Venues, before gaining planning permission
As I said, many clients I’ve dealt with make the mistake of believing they don’t need planning permission for their outdoor wedding venue. This may go under the radar for a few months, maybe even years, without being noticed by the local planning authority. But at some point, if there are residents within a few hundred metres of the property, and you have a live band or a DJ playing music into the early hours of the morning… you run a high risk of the affected residents making a noise complaint to the Environmental Health department of the council. At this point, the planning team and Environmental Health Officer (EHO) are alerted to site and suddenly you could come under pressure to stop all operations and events before you have submitted a planning application, which can take months to get approved.
Once you’ve had a noise complaint, you’re facing a much harder battle. There is now a heightened sensitivity to noise from the affected parties, and the EHO must take more stringent measures to deal with this. The EHO and the Planning Officer will also no doubt be a tad annoyed that you have not gained the proper planning permission. These factors can lead to you (assuming you are the wedding operator that is reading this) having to get on the back foot and act defensively.
Now we’re in a battle! A battle that can be won, but a battle nonetheless that will cost you significantly more time, money, and stress… than if you’d gone through the proper channels in the first place.
So lets now say that you have correctly applied for planning permission before hosting events.
There are still mistakes that can be made.
Firstly, the issue of noise is inevitably going to come up, so don’t make the mistake of thinking that a noise assessment isn’t required.
Secondly, it’s easy to say that ‘those houses over there are over 200m away, there’s no way they’re going to hear the music from my venue!’ Wrong. Noise from amplified music can travel for miles! Particularly low frequency noise. Everyone must have had a situation sat in the garden where they can hear the ‘oonce oonce oonce’ from the bass of a nearby event or festival at the weekend. OK so yes, maybe that’s fine for a weekend. But every weekend? Possibly 3 times a week? I’d be annoyed, especially if they haven’t asked me about it!
Maintaining a good relationship with local residents and the council/EHO is a key aspect. After all, if you were one of these parties, wouldn’t you be more accepting of someone who has approached you about the plans, talked through your concerns, been open minded about how they can reduce the noise impact, been generally polite and considerate… than someone who has cracked on without permission, doesn’t appear to care about the noise impact, and has now gotten defensive and are trying to scrape through planning with minimal thought about noise management?
The issue with an outdoor entertainment venue is that you can make a bunch of reasonable objective arguments and demonstrate that noise levels won’t exceed the limits in guidance which is usually applied to residential developments. The problem is, there is no one all-powerful and all-governing guideline which is directly applicable to assessing wedding/entertainment noise. It is not a black and white assessment and just purely meeting a noise level limit does not automatically mean there is no impact.
Noise is subjective, and the impact is also very much dependent upon the existing noise environment. Most wedding venues are out in the countryside, away from significant transport routes, and therefore in a quiet environment, particularly in the evenings. Introducing music noise into this scenario, even if it is at a relatively low noise level, is probably going to be audible and noticeable to some extent, and therefore a possible disturbance.
I’ve gone slightly off topic, but what I’m saying in summary, is that you need a positive, proactive and considerate approach towards the noise impact. An applicant who is all of these things, and produces a good quality noise assessment, with a solid Noise Management Plan that they will follow, all as part of the initial planning application, will have less public objections, have a better relationship with the EHO, and will go a long way to getting a successful planning application with less restrictive planning conditions.
Can I write the Noise Assessment myself?
You’ll be thinking ‘well he would say this, he’s an Acoustic Consultant, it’s his job’… but please, don’t write the Noise Assessment yourself.
A proper assessment and management plan is between 20 and 50 pages of in depth technical analysis, noise predictions, possibly a noise survey conducted at site with some rather expensive equipment, and a detailed Noise Management Plan that is specific for the site. It is not a 1–2 page word document, with incorrect references to dBs, ‘soundproof’ materials, and trees blocking out noise (a common misconception).
I don’t mean to be blunt, but you’re going to cost yourself time and money if you DIY, without at least speaking to a noise consultant first. You’re either going to get rejected, or the EHO will delay the application so that you can obtain more information from a professional. Get an acoustic consultant on first and you’ll hopefully avoid weeks and months of delays (providing they’re a good acoustic consultant of course!).
So what does a Noise Assessment actually involve?
Well it could involve anything… but let’s talk about what a good Noise Assessment should include!
A good noise consultant should start by closely reviewing local planning authority policies with respect to noise (every council is different), looking at other similar planning applications in the area (to see what noise conditions have been applied elsewhere), and speaking to the EHO before progressing with the Noise Assessment. A consultant who agrees an assessment methodology with the EHO is more likely to have success.
Next, a good assessment should include some comprehensive noise mapping, like in the images below. For wedding venues we’re often dealing with a number of residential properties, in all the directions, and over various distances. We’re also dealing with noise sources which are quite directive. Hence it is important that a noise map is produced to accurately predict noise levels in all directions, accounting for the topography of the land, ground absorption, the presence of buildings, fences…… rather than just using a simple logarithmic distance attenuation formula (i.e. noise attenuation = 20 log(distance in metres)
Most noise assessments will also include a baseline noise survey conducted at site. It is important to consider the context of site, i.e. music noise is less likely to be noticed in an urban area which already has similar developments, or is exposed to road traffic noise. But out in the countryside, late in the evening, with no traffic noise around… it may be more noticeable. Most assessments will take an approach that the noise emissions from music should not exceed the existing background noise level outside of a residential property by +5 dB (for up to 30 events), or +15 dB (for up to 12 events), before 11pm. After 11pm, music noise should be inaudible inside a bedroom with an open window, which is roughly <20 dB LAeq inside a bedroom, and 35 dB LAeq outside of the window. If you can prove that the latter is the case at all times, then a site survey may not be necessary.
Very importantly, the assessment should also include a Noise Management Plan.
What does a Noise Management plan contain?
Don’t be fooled into thinking that you can copy and paste measures from a website into a DIY Noise Management Plan over a couple of pages and that this will tick the box and make the noise go away. It doesn’t, you will need to actually predict noise emissions, and for this reason you should get an acoustic consultant on board.
I’m not going to go too in depth on the specific noise control measures you can use. I may do in another article, but there are plenty of other articles out there which cover this topic…. but the measures you need are site specific. Having said all that… let’s have a quick look at some typical noise measures.
One of the key aspects to a wedding venue noise management plan is often the use of a noise limiter. This is a device which monitors noise within the venue and effectively forces music noise to be mainted within a limit which will ensure it is not too loud at nearby residents. These limiters usually operate by cutting the power to the DJ or performer if the noise limits are exceeded for more than a few seconds. As you can imagine, if the limit is low, then could be very annoying! Instant silence! Complying with a limiter is much easier for a DJ than a live band. A DJ’s pre-recorded music will be heavily compressed already to limit the dynamic range, reducing the number of ‘peaks’ in noise level.
The next aspect is the construction of the venue. A fully sealed stone barn will be relatively good at reducing noise breakout. On the other end of the scale, a marquee will achieve almost no sound reduction. Somewhere in the middle, might be a barn made of timber, or any building where external doors are left open. There is a tendency to think that if the doors are open, then there will be no sound reduction, but that’s not the case. Open doors will obviously let out sound, however, if these are directed away from nearby residential properties, the operation can still work.
A Noise Management Plan will also talk about how staff will be trained to manage noise and deal with complaints. Simple measures like clear signage to ensure guests don’t accidentally drive on to neighbouring properties land, staff ushering guests away from properties during and after the event, conducting sound checks before the event, monitoring noise during…. A complaints management system is also crucial. Again, I reiterate, the wedding venue needs to show they are being considerate of the noise impact, which means if they receive a complaint then they action it, find the problem, fix it, and evaluate the result, quickly.
I hope you enjoyed this short article, and keep an eye out for more articles on the common questions that I get asked by clients in my job as an acoustic consultant. As you might have guessed, ParkerJones Acoustics are able to conduct Noise Assessments and Noise Management Plans for Wedding Venues… Feel free to connect and message me through LinkedIn, send me an email at chris@parkerjonesacoustics.com, or through our Contact Us page.
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