New Eastbourne Borough owner faces questions from residents in meeting over licencing plans

Leslie is seeking licensing permission to hold concerts and similar events - free and open-air - on up to eight dates per year. Outdoor functions would be permitted to run until 8.00pm. For indoor events, the Langney Sports Club already holds a bar licence to run until 1.00am. Nominally, a new licence would include permission to host up to 2000 guests, although that is a ceiling figure.

The new Borough owner – who has already spent sums well into five figures in renovating and improving facilities ahead of the new season – has plans to run concerts and similar events, free of charge to local residents, mainly during summer weekends outside the football season.

But at a packed and noisy open meeting - called by the football club following leafleting of neighbouring houses - the new owner fielded concerns over potential noise, nuisance and parking issues.

All voices were heard, although the dissenting voices in the 200-strong gathering were probably more numerous, and certainly louder. In a febrile atmosphere, quite foreign to a usually buoyant and cheerful football clubhouse, genuine concerns were tinged with indignation and anger from many of the club’s neighbours.

The “letterbox leaflets” – headed Important Community Information – are anonymous, although they encourage local residents with objections to contact local councillors Daniel Butcher, Jenny Williams and Hugh Parker. Concerns raised in the leaflet include the likelihood of “more noise, cars/taxis, antisocial behaviour and littering”.

Their initial alarm had been raised by official notices, posted on lamp-posts, of a licensing application by the football club. The notices were subsequently removed because of an administrative correction, but a revised application will now go ahead.

An Eastbourne Borough Council planning official, who was attending in an informal capacity, helpfully explained the process from this point, including the rights of local residents to raise questions or objections, before any licensing is granted.

If Simon Leslie and his CEO Alan Williams – also present – had hoped to assuage fears and reassure residents, they were only partly successful. Simon reaffirmed his blueprint for Eastbourne Borough as a community club: “We are committed to being good neighbours. Our intentions are honourable.” Alan Williams reminded the meeting that the whole grounds – administered by the umbrella Acorns Trust – may only ever be used for sporting, leisure and recreational use.

But – once the more alarmist concerns about drunken hooliganism are quelled – the residents will still be seeking traffic and parking solutions. Many spoke of congestion and blocked driveways on matchdays, in residential roads with limited parking. The new owner confirmed that the football club is actively looking at ways to ease congestion – including a possible Park & Ride scheme.

Not all of the neighbours’ voices were angry ones. “Our family uses the club facilities and we love having them on our doorstep,” said one. “We moved here eight years ago, and we knew the club was here – it’s been here much longer than a lot of these residents!” Another agreed: “We love all that goes on here – they’ve just been running children’s matches and coaching courses, we have a huge green expanse where people walk their dogs unhindered. And if they did put on a lovely summer concert and the music wafted into our garden – beautiful!”

By the end of the meeting – more than an hour of intense debate – tempers had cooled. Mr Leslie was noticeably approached by a good number of members of the public – and the noises were supportive. And perhaps local residents, who had arrived literally brandishing those leaflets and bristling, had heard at least some of their fears assuaged. If not, they now know that they will have a proper route to raise their concerns.

Two sides to every story. Hell hath no fury like a Langney bungalow owner. But the National South hath no owner quite like Mr Leslie – who had responded with patience and courtesy to a whole barrage of comments from the floor. No doubt, with proper dialogue and perhaps with a little more light than heat, the best way forward will be found – and cordial relations will return.