Neighbour row erupts in sleepy Norfolk town over huge parties at £4,000-a-week holiday let

The refurbishment added a plunge pool, hot tub, outdoor pizza oven, barbecue and al fresco dining area to the site, which sits directly opposite St Nicholas Church.

Since the property began accepting bookings in March, neighbours have lodged complaints about noise disturbances and smoke from the cooking facilities, while the local Women’s Institute branch has raised alarm over threats to its neighbouring hall.

Wells Town Council has responded by voting unanimously to explore what measures it can take against the property. Chairman Peter Rainsford confirmed councillors heard directly from aggrieved locals before reaching their decision.

“We had a deputation from a group of very concerned residents from the area who were complaining bitterly about the noise,” he said.

“We understand from local residents that the impact on their lives is unacceptable. It’s the wrong use in the wrong place.”

Mr Rainsford highlighted the sensitivity of the location, noting the property’s proximity to the church lychgate where mourners and wedding parties congregate. “It’s quite a sacred corner,” he said.

One resident encountered walking his dog nearby described hearing shouting from the property and encountering barbecue smoke while passing through.

Mr Leahy has pushed back against the complaints, pointing to noise monitoring equipment fitted in the garden that automatically sends text warnings to guests when sound levels are exceeded.

The sensors are triggered at 60dB – roughly equivalent to a normal conversation – during nighttime hours, with a marginally higher limit in daytime. Over the entire summer, the monitors were activated just four times.

“We’re not talking about parties, about topless saxophonists jumping in the swimming pool,” Mr Leahy said. “We’re talking about kids, a handful of kids, that’s what we’re talking about.”

He added the monitoring system was being recalibrated to measure average sound over five-minute intervals rather than 15, increasing its sensitivity.

The dispute has also drawn in the Wells-next-the-Sea Women’s Institute (WI), a 47-member branch that has occupied its hall adjacent to the property since the 1920s.

In correspondence with planners, the WI warned noise from potentially rowdy guests, combined with diminished parking and altered access arrangements, jeopardised its long-term “sustainability.”

The branch has alleged the outdoor facilities amount to an unauthorised activity centre, and Mr Leahy has since submitted a retrospective planning application.

Thelma Short, 83, a member for two decades, expressed her distress: “We won’t be able to get to it, old people like me carrying a cake down. It’s heart-breaking.”

Another neighbour cautioned that if members could no longer reach the hall safely, the institute risked “being forced to fold.”

Town clerk Emma Gunhouse issued a forceful objection, stating that the alterations “ride roughshod over the Wells neighbourhood plan and the human rights of the members of the Wells Women’s Institute.”

Mr Leahy has dismissed the WI’s concerns as “unfounded,” noting that he widened the driveway from two metres to three and offered the group one or two parking spaces on meeting days. The plunge pool, he said, sits more than a metre from the WI building.

He has also extended an olive branch, inviting the branch to use his venue for a summer or Christmas gathering. Relations, he maintained, had improved.

North Norfolk District Council originally approved the conversion two years ago despite a wave of objections. Mr Leahy, who runs six comparable holiday rental businesses elsewhere in the country, urged locals to show patience with the venture.

“It’s bringing tourists into Wells, at some point you have to support your local businesses or you won’t have any,” he said, adding that the site had served as a tourism facility for a quarter of a century before his renovation.

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