IT IS the luxury retirement village where residents pay thousands of pounds for the pleasure of staying.

Now neighbours of Audley Stanbridge Earls can breathe a sigh of relief after it was revealed part of a licence application has been dropped.

This comes after Audley Stanbridge Earls in Old Salisbury Lane, near Romsey, unveiled they wanted to host an annual fete and garden parties where music could be played outdoors until 12am every Friday and Saturday.

The application, submitted by Audley Stanbridge Earls Management, looked to host dance performances from 8am to midnight every Friday and Saturday during the summer.

Party-goers would be able to buy alcohol from 8am to 11pm on Sunday through to Thursday, which will extend to midnight on Friday and Saturday.

Cllr Nick Adams-King, who represents Blackwater on the borough council, said the retirement village dropped part of the application that applies to the “outside areas”. But he added that entertainment bosses at Stanbridge Earls are still looking to host indoor entertainment which is included in the licence application.

He said: “The issue was Audley Stanbridge Earls wanted to licence the entire garden area to play music, host dance performances, show films and sport events on a big screen.

“They were planning to do this until 11pm and the initial response from the council has been we are quite far away from the retirement village, so it would not have been a nuisance. For me, it was to do with that people who are due to live in Stanbridge Earls, as they are building flats all around the retirement village and you have to think about 400 people’s quality of life when they arrive.

“The people who will move into Stanbridge Earls will be living closer to the area and before Christmas there were already 30 people living there already.”

Another resident said: “[There’s] nothing like the peace and quiet of the English countryside, where you can hear music and films, outdoors, from eight in the morning until 11 at night. I wonder what they will be dancing to late at night.”

Managing Director at Audley Group, Paul Morgan, said: "We have been working closely with the team at Test Valley Borough Council to ensure that Audley Stanbridge Earls will have the correct licensing in place.

"During our conversations it became clear that a full outside entertainment licence would not be necessary for the events we plan to host at the village and as such this section of the application was withdrawn.”   

The site was occupied by Stanbridge Earls School which shut in August 2013 after it was at the centre of sex abuse allegations.

Audley bought the grade-two listed Tudor manor house for £10 million and plans for a new retirement village for over-55s were approved in August 2017.