‘A vendetta, lies and spurious comments’ were some of the accusations made during a licence review committee for a north Pembrokeshire music venue.

Pembrokeshire County Council’s licensing sub committee discussed a review of Trehale Farm’s licence at a near six hour hearing on Wednesday (December 15) following complaints about noise from neighbours.

Technical difficulties caused some delays to proceedings and councillors also had a 400 page report of submissions to consider, along with an extra 23 page response from Trehale licensee Adam Vincent, submitted the week of the committee.

Six households living close to the venue near Mathry applied to the council for a review of the licence on “excess noise” grounds with Debra Yates telling the committee that there had been little nuisance from the venue previously but “in the last year the scale and nature of the events have changed.”

Two events in particular – a ska and dub weekend and an Unearthed one day event – led to noise complaints, the committee heard, and pollution control officer Nathan Miles visited the affected properties.

His view was that there was a “clear statutory nuisance” on that occasion and “it comes back to the same points – the music is outside, there’s no barriers to nearby residents, the residents are very close and there are no control measures.”

Mr. Vincent said he wanted to address “17 lies” made in the submissions but was asked to limit his comments to the noise issues and was reminded that members had copies of his response which would be fully considered.

“It’s incredibly frustrating to listen to two or three hours and not be able to respond,” he said, adding he and his wife Jenny Vincent had been “flabbergasted, confused and upset” to learn of the licence review application.

He said most of his neighbours had attended events at Trehale Farm but there was a “clear vendetta and collusion from some of the neighbours to throw everything at us in the hope that something sticks.”

In response to the noise issue Mr. Vincent said one of the main assurances he could give was that events of the type that prompted complaints would not be held again nor would so many be held in future, with 2021 an “extraordinary year” in terms of demand.

The committee heard that there had been 45 events at Trehale Farm this year compared to 31 in 2019.

Mrs. Vincent added: “What we do want to do is to continue with the events that were much smaller, more low key.”

An earth bund and hay bail wall put in to try to reduce noise would be added to “but the most important this is not doing the events that caused the nuisance in the first place,” she added.

The committee retired at 4 pm to start its deliberations and has five working days to notify parties of its decision with options including modifying or revoking the licence.