The bitter noise row threatening one of Chelsea’s best-loved restaurants took a dramatic twist today when the resident at the centre of the dispute failed to turn up for a crucial licensing hearing.

Tech entrepreneur Francesco Perticarari, a father of two who claims diners at La Famiglia are keeping his family awake at night, pulled out at the last minute citing a “medical emergency”.

Mr Perticarari’s absence prompted councillors to adjourn the hearing for a month — sparking angry cries of “shame” and “outrageous” from more than 40 restaurant supporters who had packed the Council’s Small Hall. One member of the public shouted angrily “De-select these councillors” as the committee members left the room.

And in an extraordinary development, the senior RBKC environmental health officer who repeatedly backs the noise complaint in a 551 page report publicly accepted that the case should be dealt with as a “private nuisance” and was therefore outside the licensing committee’s remit.

Tempers flared as committee Chairman Cllr Greg Hammond announced the decision to adjourn the hearing. La Famiglia’s owner Marietta Maccioni broke down in tears and slammed the decision. “This whole affair is making me ill,” she said afterwards, visibly crying. “It’s disgusting. I’m not sure that I can go on like this…”

Italian national Mr Perticarari, whose rented house backs directly onto the restaurant’s 80-seat garden dining room, notified council officials in an email at 7.26am today that he could not attend and was seeking an urgent adjournment.

There were unconfirmed reports that one of his children was suffering from a fever and had to be taken to hospital. Mr Perticarari and his Spanish wife have a two-year-old daughter and a six-week-old son.

Cllr Hammond offered to show anyone from the public gallery the proof of the emergency – in private and in confidence – but no one accepted. The Citizen’s editor Rob McGibbon asked to view the evidence, but Cllr Hammond refused on the basis that Mr McGibbon was not registered as “an interested party” to the inquiry.

Central to the case is noise from the restaurant’s garden, not least when its retractable canopy is open during summer months. Mr Perticarari claims that diners talking, cutlery clanking, chairs moving and glasses clinking, repeatedly disturbs their daughter’s sleep. Her bedroom wall is four metres away from the garden.

He wants customers banned from the garden after 9pm from Monday to Saturday and 8pm on Sundays — restrictions the restaurant’s owners warn could have devastating consequences for their business. They say that it would make it unviable because closing earlier would rule out a second sitting for dinner.

Today, La Famiglia came armed with one of Britain’s leading licensing barristers, Leo Charalambides, who strongly opposed postponing the hearing. He argued that restaurant supporters had taken time off work to attend and that another month’s delay would impose an unfair burden on the family-run business. He said that the on-going uncertainty was taking a heavy toll on the owners and staff.

More fundamentally, Mr Charalambides challenged whether the committee had any legal jurisdiction to hear the case at all.

His argument was that the alleged disturbance amounted to a private nuisance, involving an individual neighbour’s enjoyment of his home, rather than a public nuisance falling within the council’s licensing powers. A private matter is dealt with by the council’s Noise and Nuisance department, which only has powers to issue fines. It cannot rule on wider reaching licensing matters.

Then came a remarkable revelation. Mr Charalambides claimed that RBKC’s principal environmental health officer, Philip Richardson, whose department had backed the complainant, had twice privately expressed the same view.

“He spoke to me once in the committee room before the hearing started and then again outside, saying he thought it was a private nuisance,” the barrister told The Citizen.

Questioned by licensing committee chairman Cllr Greg Hammond (Courtfield), Mr Richardson acknowledged that this was his own personal opinion. His revelation drew gasps and guffaws from members of the public. Confusingly, he then told the Committee that his department’s position was that noise from diners in the garden constituted a public nuisance.

The distinction is potentially crucial.

Preventing public nuisance is one of the four licensing objectives under the Licensing Act 2003, giving councils powers to impose restrictions on licensed premises. Private nuisance, by contrast, generally involves interference with an individual’s enjoyment of their property.

However, licensing law can encompass unreasonable disturbance affecting nearby residents, even where relatively few households complain. The legal dispute therefore turns on whether the evidence justifies action under the public nuisance objective.

Mr Richardson’s department has previously reported witnessing excessive noise from the garden, including one occasion when officers found Mr Perticarari’s young daughter awake, tearful and unable to sleep. Officers visited on NINE separate occasions during a two-year period – once as late as 11.30pm. Just THREE instances were accepted by officers as noise breaches.

A noise abatement notice was served last October and a fixed penalty notice followed in July after officers concluded that the disturbance had continued. Mr Richardson has recommended a 9pm garden curfew and for no work to be done in the garden before 11am.

The owners point out that they have already introduced noise-control measures, including an 11pm end to garden service, a member of staff acting as a noise marshal and a ban on singing “Happy Birthday” outdoors. But Mr Perticarari maintains that these measures have failed to bring lasting peace to his home.

The restaurant’s supporters insist La Famiglia is being unfairly targeted. The Langton Street institution, which has been serving Tuscan food for 51 years, has attracted 247 representations in its defence, including submissions from four borough councillors, the Ten Acre Residents’ Association and a raft of celebrities including singers Bryan Ferry and Eric Clapton, music tycoon Simon Cowell, film producer Barbara Broccoli, and actress Felicity Kendal.

Supporters describe a much-loved family restaurant, not a rowdy late-night drinking establishment. Several neighbours say they have never experienced unreasonable disturbance.

After considering the adjournment request, Cllr Hammond, supported by Conservative colleagues Stephanie Petit (Norland) and Preety Hudd (Campden), decided that the hearing could not fairly proceed without Mr Perticarari.

“It’s not good news for the majority in this room,” he acknowledged. “But we need to hear from all parties.”

Moments before the decision was announced, former Deputy Leader Cllr Kim Taylor-Smith (Stanley) had been preparing to address the committee and was planning to lambast council officers for bringing this action against the restaurant.

He told The Citizen later: “This case should not have come to the Licence Committee as it was a private complaint. I very much regret the actions of the Licence department in doing so and very much support the business.”

For La Famiglia, the adjournment means another month of uncertainty – as well as extra legal bills, which are already believed to be fast approaching £100,000.

“You can see how upset the family are,” Mr Charalambides told The Citizen afterwards. “It’s not a setback, but it’s an additional burden.”

For now, one of Chelsea’s most bitter rows continues and the fate of La Famiglia’s famous garden dining hangs in the balance until November.

The Citizen has approached Mr Perticarari via email for comment. This follows a previous request earlier this month to interview him so he can share his side of the situation. We are choosing not to approach him directly at his property, out of respect for his privacy and that of his family.