RESIDENTS in Kennington are gathering a petition against attempts to put a noise abatement order on their village hall.

Birthday parties, pantomimes, and 40th birthday parties held at Kennington village hall could be halted, because council officers say they are a noise nuisance.

Vale of White Horse District Council has threatened to serve the hall with a noise abatement order, which would mean the thriving hall may miss out on bookings.

There have been complaints about 13 events since 2009.

Among them are the St Swithun’s Church barn dance, Kennington Amateur Dramatics Society’s production of Dick Whittington, performances from the Icknield Way morris men and traditional fiddle bands.

It is believed just one villager is behind the complaints.

Villager Paul Burton, who lives opposite the hall, has gathered almost 300 signatures to save the hall from the abatement notice since he launched a petition on Friday.

The 57-year-old said if the hall could not make any revenue from the larger events, smaller village functions and groups would suffer.

He said: “If they can’t get the bookings because the music is ‘too loud’ it will mean the costs go up for the other smaller clubs. This is the heart of the village.”

Trustees have already spent more than £20,000 to adapt the 1980s building to try to solve the problem.

The windows have been sealed to stop noise leaking out and the air vents have been filled with putty.

The committee has been forced to spend £9,000 on air conditioning as a result. A further £1,000 paid for an acoustic report, £6,000 was spent on on acoustic fire doors and £4,500 for double glazing.

But council officials have advised the committee to get professional advice and buy a noise-limiting device which automatically cuts off music if it goes above a certain level.

Paul Holland, the district council’s environmental protection manager, said: “We understand villagers’ concerns but want to emphasise that a noise abatement notice would not affect the majority of events held at the hall. It simply aims to ensure that any noise impact from events is not unreasonable.

“Our investigations have recorded high levels of noise late at night, which is causing significant disturbance to neighbours and we have a duty to do what we can to prevent this. We are also happy to continue to work with the hall committee on suitable and low-cost sound prevention methods.”