✓ Granted
Hospitality
Location
West End, Southampton, Hampshire
Planning authority
Eastleigh Borough Council
Application
F/26/101048
Decision
Granted, May 2026. Noise conditions discharged June 2026 (DC/26/101444)
Development
Ground-floor shop to café and evening bar with outdoor seating
Standards
BS 4142:2014+A1:2019, BS 8233:2014
A ground-floor shop on a busy high street was proposed as a café by day and a bar in the evening, with homes at and next to the site. The council needed confidence that the new use would not harm residential amenity.
The Scheme
The proposal changed the use of a retail unit to a café and evening bar, with a small outdoor seating area and a replacement condenser for refrigeration and cooling. Residential accommodation sits at and next to the site, so every new sound source had to be considered against neighbouring bedrooms and living rooms.
The Noise Issue
Four sources needed addressing: the replacement condenser, low-level background music, patrons inside the premises and use of the outdoor seating. Music and people sit outside the scope of BS 4142, so each had to be assessed on its own terms rather than forced into a single plant-noise method.
What We Did
01
Ran an unattended baseline survey over four days in March 2026 at a position representative of the nearest residential windows.
02
Adopted a representative background sound level of 41 dB LA90,1hr for the opening hours.
03
Set a BS 4142 design limit: the condenser rating level must not exceed 41 dB at the nearest residential windows, with anti-vibration mounting and verification of the final unit before installation.
04
Assessed music and patron noise separately, on the basis of background music only, and set out the sound insulation and management measures the scheme relies on.
The Result
41 dB
Plant rating limit at the nearest windows
4 days
Unattended baseline monitoring
2
Applications approved: permission and condition discharge
Planning Outcome
Planning permission was granted by Eastleigh Borough Council in May 2026 (F/26/101048). The sound insulation and noise conditions were then discharged in June 2026 under DC/26/101444.
Related services and guides
Noise impact assessments for planning →
Decision details are taken from the council's public planning register and can be checked by searching the application reference on the council's planning portal. Client and site details are kept confidential.
