Upminster outdoor cinema goes before licensing panel following noise complaints

Noise complaints could put paid to popular open-air cinema events in Upminster which organisers want to hold again from next month.

Essex Outdoor Cinema will find out tomorrow if it is able to screen again at the Upminster Windmill Field, in St Mary’s Lane, when its application for a temporary event notice goes before the licensing sub-committee in Havering Town Hall.

If passed, the company, headed by Ben Tillson, of Melstock Avenue, Upminster, will be allowed to show a film and serve alcohol to a maximum of 499 people in the field, adjacent to the windmill, between 7pm and 11.30pm on Saturday, June 21.

It follows jam-packed screenings last August and September.

A representation against the application has been submitted by Havering Council noise specialist, Marc Gasson, who said the council had received a “number of complaints” on after both screenings due to the noise from the film and music played prior to it.

He said: “As the event is held in an open park environment there are no natural features to contain the noise from the speaker systems used and the instruments played.

“In addition, the park is surrounded on three sides by residential properties which are in close proximity to the noise sources.”

The application will be heard at 10am.

For more information go to www.essexoutdoorcinema.com.