The promoters of a 1,600 person live music event at Pendennis Castle in September have won the support of Falmouth Town Council for a licence to run more events each year.

Canvas, run by Hassan Malik and Kayleigh Johnson under the trading name of Conrad Events, has applied for a licence to run dance parties of up to 2,000 people in the castle grounds, and told councillors they hope one day to move on to holding live music concerts as well.

The town council's licensing committee has supported the plans, with some recommended conditions, and the final decision now rests in the hands of Cornwall Council's licensing department.

Last year a dance party the company ran at the castle using the licence of English Heritage attracted 1,600 people and resulted in a noise complaint from St Mawes. Now the company has applied for their own licence to run no more than five events per year at Pendennis, all of which would end at 1am.

Mr Malik told councillors: "It's actually realistically going to be only three events per calendar year," and Ms Johnson added that they were told to "write more to cover our backs."

They added that if the licence were approved in time, the first event it would cover would be held in early May, but if not they would still hold the event using the castle's licence.

When committee chair Rowenna Brock asked them about drinking up times, they explained that the plans was to stop serving alcohol at 12.30am with the music stopping at 1am.

Councillor John Body asked about how the applicants would deal with noise generated by the event, as "on a quiet night you can hear [noise from the castle] all over town." He added that last year's event had caused a noise complaint from St Mawes.

The couple replied that they did "quite a comprehensive noise management plan" and would also have an "acoustician in place" for the event, and added that ahead of the last party they had done a letter drop to all nearby residents and had responded during the night to noise complaints, lowering the volume by 15 decibels.

They also said they had taken on board comments by licensing officer Sue Edwards and recommendations from environmental health, and would be "happy to pay" a fee towards policing to ensure safety levels.

And they added that although the venue had a 2,500 capacity, they would only host about 2,000 people per event, with emergency access, mandatory drug searches, and an ambulance on site during the night.

They told councillors that they had plans to bring in an "older crowd" with music concerts by names such as Rod Stewart, don't currently have the finance. The events they are currently holding are a way of "building up to that."

Mr Body proposed that the council supports the application on the condition that the bar closes at 12.30am with 30 minutes drinking up, and policing and noise levels are as recommended.

The application will now go before Cornwall Council's licensing officers.