Agenda and minutes

Please note this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method.  Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on.  By entering the ‘meeting room’, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

The Chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual, or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

The Chair referred to the filming of meetings and this information was noted.  

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of Urgent Business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with under item 8 below).

There was no urgent business.  

None were declared.

The Committee will first hear from the Licensing Officer.  After that, the objectors will present their case and the Committee and applicant will have the opportunity to ask questions. Then, the applicant will present their application and the Committee and objectors will have the opportunity to ask questions. 

All parties will then have the opportunity to sum up, and then the meeting will conclude to allow the Committee to deliberate and reach a decision. This decision will then be provided in writing within five working days of this meeting.

The Chair provided a summary of the procedure for the meeting.  

To consider an application for a variation of a premises licence.

Presentation by the Licensing Officer

Ms Daliah Barrett, Licensing Team Leader, informed the Sub-Committee that:

·      This was a variation application seeking to extend the permitted hours for the sale of alcohol from 11:00 to 23:30 Sunday to Thursday and 11:00 to 00:00 Friday and Saturday.

·      The applicant had also applied to remove a condition regarding the rear area which had to be closed 22:30 each day. This would be replaced by a condition that stated that the rear area would be closed at 00:00 Sunday to Thursday and at 00:30 on Friday and Saturday. 

·      Representations had been received from residents and there were no representations from responsible authorities.

·      The premises had held temporary events and these were outlined in the report.

·      The application had a noise management plan before a hearing for a temporary event notice and some of the wording related more closely to temporary events.

·      There were no decibel noise levels specified in the plan. 

·      The plan stated that it will have DPS noise levels, but they had been no decibel noise levels specified.

In response to questions, Ms Barrett informed the Sub-Committee that:

·      The applicant had given seven temporary event notices (TENs), one had originally been objected to but the objection was rescinded following mediation with the applicant’s representative.  

·      Residents were usually notified by writing to inform them about a variation application.

Presentation by the applicant

Mr Bill Donne, representing the applicants, informed the Sub-Committee that:

·      There had been an oversight on the previous application that had been granted and the sale of alcohol should commence at 11:00. The current licence allowed for the sale of alcohol to begin at 16:00 each day.

·      The intention of the application was so that the premises could open at lunchtimes to sell food, so the applicant would ask that the sale of alcohol be changed to start 11:00 each day. This would fall in line with previous premises licence conditions that had been subject to previous ownership over the years.

·      The applicant also wished to remove the conditions limiting the rear of the premises area which currently requested all patrons to leave by 22:30 and to be replaced to state that the rear area should be cleared by 00:00 Sunday through to Thursday and by 00:30 on Friday and Saturday.

·      The premises had traded as public house in the past and had a pub licence in the past from the previous 1964 act.

·      The premises had been subject to a review application six years ago and additional conditions had been imposed since the review application.

·      The premises had been subject to a Licensing Sub-Committee hearing approximately two months ago and the Sub-Committee decided to give weight to the representations and the previous history of the premises and to continue with the limits of the use of the rear area. However, the review application from the past evidenced a catalogue of events and incidents that related to the premises when it operated through to 03:00.

·      The applicants had brought the business  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To consider an application for a variation of a premises licence.

At the start of the hearing, Ms Daliah Barrett, Licensing Team Leader, informed the Sub-Committee that the applicant wished to submit additional papers. Furthermore, a plan had been submitted with the application and it was a requirement of the under the Licensing regulation that the plan submitted should be reflective of the premises. Licensing had received some additional photographs from the applicant displaying work that had been carried out to the garden area of the premises, so a structure had been built in the garden area that was not displayed on the plan that was submitted for the application. Nothing was mentioned on the application about the area either, so as a result, none of the interested parties to the application were aware of the structure. The regulations had not been followed as the correct plan had not been submitted.

The Legal advisor to the meeting stated that the plan was displayed on page 148 of the agenda papers and was no longer reflective of the actual condition of the premises. In effect, the application had not been made correctly.

In response to a question, Mr Simms, representing the applicant, stated that the late submission of documents included a noise impact assessment and this had been received from a noise acoustic company on 27 January 2023 and had been signed by the company on that date. In relation to the some of the images of the premises, these had been computers generated CGI images of the premises would look. The architect had completed the drawings and had completed a 3D walk-through of how the premises would look in its final form. In relation to the structure at the rear of the premises, a meeting had been held with the Planning Authority and the applicant needed to submit a planning application. The back of the premises had a cover. The garden area had no cover or shelter and a shelter had been built. A minor variation could be submitted to include the shelter. A shelter had been built so that patrons did not get exposed to bad weather.

The Legal advisor stated that under Section 23 of the Licensing Act 2003 (Premises licences and club premises certificate) Regulations 2005, the plan needed to show various elements. This included the extent of the boundary of the building, if relevant, and any external and internal walls of the building and, if different, the perimeter of the premises, the location of points of access to and egress from the premises; in a case where the premises was to be used for more than one licensable activity, the area within the premises used for each activity; fixed structures (including furniture) or similar objects temporarily in a fixed location. The plan was not reflective of the application and did not comply with the relevant legislation.

Ms Barrett stated that a Planning Officer had been visited the premises and had emailed the enforcement matters that he wanted the applicant to address. The additional structure in the rear  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To consider any items of urgent business as identified at item 3.

There were no items.