We live in one of UK's 'poshest' villages… but our haven will be ruined by party venue that could play music until 1am | The Sun
RESIDENTS of one of Britain's “poshest” villages are fuming over plans to turn a 300-year-old mansion into a late night boozy party venue.
Locals of the historic village of Ombersley fear their area could be ruined after a planning application was submitted to turn Ombersley Court into a late-night party venue.
Last year the Worcestershire village was named as one of the poshest in Britain after Savills estate agents reported a steep rise in demand for rural properties.
Gemini Hospitality Group, which owns the Grade I-listed mansion, wants to serve alcohol until 12am and play music until 1am every night.
Businessman Tim Hopkins bought the mansion, which is set in 39-acres, for £3.5million in 2017.
He is understood to have spent hundreds of thousands restoring the state rooms, including one where the Iron Duke of Wellington regularly stayed after his triumph over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.
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Locals are now preparing for a war of their own over his plans to turn the historic mansion into a lucrative party business.
Residents of the quaint countryside village, where house prices average a staggering £682,000, fear it could "lose its character".
Michael and Angela Podmore, who live half-a-mile from the house, said they could hear noise from a charity ball held in a marquee in the ground last summer.
In their objection letter to Wychavon District Council, they said: "The noise could be heard from our home more than 600 metres away.
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"It would have had a worse affect on the hundreds of homes closer to Ombersley Court."
NOISE WORRIES
Michael Podmore, 64 and a Landscape Architect, said: "I'm not against businesses people setting up businesses.
"The Court was falling down before it was taken over, it needed taking over. It needed somebody to do something with it.
"It was initially bought to be developed to be a home. I don't have a problem with people developing it due to its historical heritage.
"The bit that I probably have a problem with is the staying open after 11pm bit on the application.
"They did have a charity event there and we live 600 metres from the Court and we could sing along to the songs it was that clear.
"It went on until the early hours of the morning.
"Apparently people could hear it in Uphampton, over the hill, which is even further away.
"The village is in itself is a dark skies village, it has no street lamps. It's a quiet village, something like this is completely out of character.
"What they have inside the Court is one thing, but the events in the ground is what people are worried about.
"There's no acoustics. At night it's silent, if you were in a town you've got a background noise but when it's silent, there's excess noise.
"It would be a blight on the whole village. There's a lot of people who live a lot closer, families and kids or elderly people.
"Music going on until the early hours of the morning is not ideal.
"The alcohol licence doesn't bother me one way or another, we've got three pubs in the village. It's difficult to object to it in the day. Beyond 11pm is a reasonable cut off point.
"The concern is it will get developed into a wedding venue but if you imagine 20 weekends of the year with live bands and discos not in the hall but in marquees it won't be ideal.
"There's a worry that it will impact it (on house prices).
"It needed huge amounts of money spent on it, it could've been easily millions. I can imagine someone wants to get some of that back
"It is an idyllic village, it's little. It is a very nice place to live, we think we're pretty lucky. You need commerce to keep things alive, but it's about how far it can go before it changes it the character of the village.
"It's all about making money. Change isn't always a bad thing though, it just needs to fit.
"I'm worried it will be at the cost of the community rather than the benefit of the community."
Residents David and Susan Collier, said the noise from the same event could be heard a mile away in the next village.
They said: "On that occasion the loud music created a disturbance as far as Uphampton, preventing people from sleeping.
"As it was a single event in aid of a local charity, residents chose not to complain.
"However, this would not be tolerable on a recurring basis. It would be especially unwelcome when residents are working during the week."
Wychavon District Council's licensing subcommittee will review the application on Wednesday.
One resident, who wished to remain unnamed, said she feared that the plans could affect house prices in the village where properties cost an average of £682,500.
She said: "It could affect all of our house prices. There was talk of it being turned into a festival site by some people, we don't want festivals here.
"A neighbour has already had their car stolen and some money taken, we don't know who did that."
While another shared her fears the already congested village would suffer from the additional traffic the development would cause.
The unnamed woman said: "There's already a lot of traffic running through the village.
"There's an A road that gets busy directly opposite the hall. It's a nightmare to cross and I have a small child."
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Another said: "We moved from Worcester and hoped of a village life, it would be like living next to a nightclub."
The Sun has contacted the Gemini Hospitality Group for comment.
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