COLWALL residents fear they could be subjected to loud music until 5am if a licensing request for this year’s Big Chill festival is approved.

Around a dozen villagers attended Colwall Parish Council’s planning meeting on Wednesday evening to raise their concerns.

Parish clerk Karen Davis said that there were substantial differences in this year’s license request compared to 2010.

Last year’s license permitted noise of no more than 15 dbs between 9am-11pm, 10 dbs between 11pm-2am and background noise after that.

However this year’s request is for levels of no more than 55 dbs between 9am and midnight, 45 dbs until 3am and 40 dbs until 5am every morning of the festival except Monday.

Mrs Davis said: “This is causing a lot of confusion, frustration and anger in the village. Because of the lay of the land and the way the sound travels, a lot of people here can hear the festival almost as if it were in their back garden.”

She said residents are also concerned that the application is for a permanent license, whereas in the past a temporary one has been granted every year.

“Nobody that was at our meeting is objecting to the Big Chill. The concerns are that the proposed noise levels until 5am seem totally inappropriate and also that there may be a permanent license with no right to consultation. They feel it should be reviewed on an annual basis.”

This year’s Big Chill festival is set to take place at Eastnor from Thursday to Sunday, August 4-7.

Melvin Benn, managing director of Festival Republic, said he makes permanent license applications for all events he promotes in the UK, but that this does not stop anyone from making representations.

“Regarding the noise, the issue is about public nuisance and we did not exceed the levels in 2010 and do not intend to exceed the levels in 201, and do not intend to cause public nuisance in 2011 or the future,” he said. “However, should we do so, as I have explained, there is adequate opportunity for representations to be made.”

Any residents who wish to comment to Herefordshire Council about the licensing application must do so no later than Wednesday (March 23).