THE owner of an outdoor bushcraft venture will find out next week whether his application for a premises licence has been successful.

Adam Taylor has been running Into The Wild at Fish House Wood in Ashley since 2019.

The Ashley Mill Lane business runs survival weekends, corporate events and school holiday clubs where children learn more about the local environment.

Felicity Tulloch, solicitor for the applicant, told Monday’s (November 22) meeting of Cheshire East’s Licensing Act Sub-Committee that during the lockdowns more people were walking in the woodland where the business is located.

“He (Mr Taylor) opened up a coffee shack, which proved very popular for walkers,” she said. “And then, more recently, a wood-fired pizza oven so people can stop and have a pizza.

“The reason we’re before you today is because he would like to add a small element of alcohol sales into that provision.”

Ms Tulloch said it would be for small events.

“It's only within the wood, a small space, he anticipates a capacity of no more than 80 people at any one time and the alcohol that he's planning on selling will only be a very limited selection.”

She added: “The application before you has been requested daily from 12 noon till 10pm simply to give him flexibility. There's no intention whatsoever that it's used daily.”

The application also includes regulated entertainment in the form of plays and films.

The six residents who objected mainly raised concerns about parking and noise.

Two residents turned up at the meeting at the council's Westfields offices at Sandbach but, because they had not registered to speak within the required time period, they were unable to.

But letters of objection from Bowdon and Hale residents were in the report before the committee.

The site is in Cheshire East in the Mobberley ward.

One resident stated, in a letter: “The residents of Hale and Bowdon will be very adversely affected by the noise, congestion, damage and litter which are always by-product of these sort of businesses.

"The residents of Cheshire East – such as there are any in the immediate area of the site – would not be so affected as the access to and from the site is through Hale and Bowdon.”

Ms Tulloch told the meeting that the site could only be reached by foot.

“There's a limit to what Adam can do in terms of where people park because the roads are some distance away from where he's located,” she said.

She added: “Noise from activities taking place at the area, simply won't cause an issue.

“It won't emanate. If there were to be any plays they'd be very small, if there were to be an acoustic band to create a bit of ambience then, located within woodland, it wouldn't permeate those trees.”

The committee will make its decision public within five working days.