A licence has been granted for a Christmas party at the Mount Pleasant Ecological Park in Porthtowan this weekend, but organisers have been told to keep the noise down.

The park had applied for a temporary event notice (TEN) to hold a ticketed Christmas party on December 17.

The sold out event would have 300 revellers and the venue was seeking to extend its hours for the one-off event and be able to serve alcohol and entertainment until 3am. Under its existing licence the venue can operate until 12.30am.

However, the application had attracted an objection from Cornwall Council’s environmental protection team which said that it was concerned about the late ending for the event.

They said that they had received complaints regarding noise after the venue’s Tropical Pressure festival event in the summer and there were concerns that the Christmas event could cause nuisance for people living nearby.

Due to the objection received by the council the TEN application had to go before a meeting of the licensing act sub-committee last week.

Tim Stirrup, from Mount Pleasant Ecological Park, told councillors that the Christmas party event had been held for seven years at the site and there had never been a single complaint.

He added that whilst there had been some complaints regarding the Tropical Pressure event he said these had been resolved and actions taken to prevent a repeat. He also highlighted that the Christmas event was very different to the festival as it had less people attending and would be entirely inside a soundproofed building.

Mr Stirrup said as part of the existing premises licence the venue carries out regular soundchecks to ensure that nobody is disturbed. He added the venue holds regular events on Fridays and Saturdays which had not raised any issues.

“The Tropical Pressure event is primarily an outdoor event,” he said. “It is completely different to this event, which is a Christmas party. The last seven years the event has been held we have never received a complaint from a neighbour or anybody else.”

In response to questions Mr Stirrup explained the Christmas party would include a sit-down meal and music including Latin American music and tropical music.

Miranda Flannigan, environmental protection officer, said her department was not objecting to the event itself but to the late finishing time. She said: “When there has been loud music in the barn we have received complaints about late night music from the barn.”

She said the venue was in a rural location and that people leaving the site were likely to go past nearby homes. She said there had been complaints about noise from people leaving the Tropical Pressure event.

Ms Flannigan said the venue already had a 1am licence and she and her colleagues “believe that is sufficient”.

The licensing committee agreed to approve the application but said it should be subject to all the conditions which apply to the venue’s existing premises licence.