OAP farm park owners facing legal action over their £200,000 Christmas light display have vowed they ‘won’t go down without a fight’.
Mike Attwell put up the light trail at Attwell Farm Park in Worcestershire to give visitors – a large proportion of whom are terminally ill or disabled – some festive fun.
But the 80-year-old was shocked when, despite his good intentions, he was hit with an Asbo-style Community Protection Notice (CPN) telling him he must turn off the display at night.
The notice came after those living in houses nearby made noise complaints to the council and said that the festive farm trail – which is open until 9pm – was causing a ‘nuisance’
Mr Attwell claims the noise is ‘very quiet’ and said: ‘We do respect the fact that at the end of the day, we’re trying to keep the volumes down.
‘So we’ve got no noise at all. You can’t you can’t hear it from 50 yards away, for example.’
He added: ‘I feel very disheartened at the fact that we’ve got bureaucrats who are telling us what we should be doing with our time and effort.’
The notice also ordered that the farm’s opening hours – which Mr Attwell says he received permission to extend temporarily for special events – be changed back to normal.
OAP farm park owners facing legal action over their £200,000 Christmas light display have vowed they ‘won’t go down without a fight’. Mike Attwell (pictured) was hit with an Asbo-style Community Protection Notice (CPN) telling him he must turn off the display at night
Mr Attwell had put up the light trail at Attwell Farm Park in Worcestershire to give visitors some festive fun
But people living in houses nearby made noise complaints to the council and said that the festive farm trail – which is open until 9pm – was causing a ‘nuisance’
Mr Attwell has slammed the ‘bureaucratic’ council for ‘trying to spoil Christmas’ and has refused to follow their orders.
He said: ‘I’m not going to let these bureaucrats turn us off and spoil Christmas for all the children that are involved and for and indeed for other people that we’ve got who haven’t got the same advantages that we have in life.’
Mr Attwell has employed legal representation to help him face the council in court and has promised ‘not to go down without a fight’.
He also told how he never had any intention of following the council’s orders after forking out £200,00 on the display.
‘Having spent that kind of money, we weren’t going to stop it,’ he explained.
Attwell Farm Park opened to the public in 2017 and attracts roughly 200,000 visitors a year.
But, ever since it opened, Mr Attwell believes the council have been ‘putting hurdles and fences in the way’ and making it ‘very difficult’ for him to run his buisiness.
Ollie Arundale, who is the director of marketing, innovation and inclusivity at Attwell Farm Park said that when the planning permission was granted for the site, the owners had applied for temporary event licences for Easter, Halloween and Christmas.
They had expected no issues, but when they tried to obtain an alcohol licence in conjunction with a local brewer for an adult-themed scare maze in October, things escalated.
Mr Attwell claims the noise is ‘very quiet’ and said: ‘We do respect the fact that at the end of the day, we’re trying to keep the volumes down’
The notice also ordered that the farm’s opening hours – which Mr Attwell says he received permission to extend temporarily for special events – be changed back to normal. Pictured: Santa visits Attwell Farm
The notices served on the family by Bromsgrove District Council’s Worcester Regulatory Services say the issue follows ‘a number of complaints being raised by local residents regarding events at Attwell Farm Park.’. Pictured: Attwell Farm staff posing with sheep
‘For some reason, a few people then jumped to the conclusion we were opening a nightclub, but we are a family attraction’, he said.
Mr Arundale explained how the main reason for wanting to stay open until 9pm during the Christmas period is because it’s quieter then and therefore less overwhelming for children with special needs.
He stressed: ‘The light trail is part of our Santa attraction and couldn’t be further from a nightclub if it tried.’
The notices served on the family by Bromsgrove District Council’s Worcester Regulatory Services say the issue follows ‘a number of complaints being raised by local residents regarding events at Attwell Farm Park.’
It also cites the conduct of the farm as having a ‘persistent or continuing detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality and the conduct is unreasonable.’
A Bromsgrove Council spokesperson said: ‘We are unable to comment at this time.’