Agenda and draft minutes

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Noted.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Beacham.  Councillor Carter was in attendance as a substitute member.

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 considered at item 10 below).

None.

None.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting of the Licensing Sub Committee B held on 20 June 2017.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2017 were approved as a correct record.

The Chair will explain the procedure that the Committee will follow for the hearing considered under the Licensing Act 2003 or the Gambling Act 2005. A copy of the procedure is attached.

The Chair outlined the procedure to be followed at the hearing.

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

Daliah Barrett, Licensing Officer, introduced the application for a variation of the existing premises licence at Nickel, 143b Crouch Hill, N8 9QJ.  The applicant wished to vary the hours of operation and the layout of the premises to allow for a bench outside of the premises for the consumption of alcohol.  Ms Barrett informed the Committee that as the outside of the premises was on the public highway, any request to use this area would be subject to a further application for a street trading licence.  Representations had been received from local residents.

Ms Barrett informed the Committee that the references on the current licence (under Annex 2, prevention of public nuisance) to live music ceasing at 23.00hrs and alcohol sales ceasing at 23.30hrs shall be removed, as they served no purpose on the licence.  Ms Barrett added that that KMNS Trading Ltd had been running the premises since May 2016 and there had been no complaints recorded against them.

Rosemary Jackson, Interested Party, outlined her representation against the application.  Her objection mainly focussed on public nuisance and the noise that would be heard from the premises late at night.  The road that the premises was located on was not a particularly busy road, with very few commercial premises.  The tables outside of the premises would encourage people to sit there to smoke, increasing the noise nuisance and causing further noise to escape from the doors with people entering and exiting the premises to smoke.  Ms Jackson added that she would accept extended hours for Friday and Saturday only.

Steve Williams, Applicant, presented the application for a variation of the premises licence.  He explained that KMNS Trading Ltd had applied for an extension in hours to allow the restaurant to expand the business and increase daytime trade.  He informed the Committee that the request to extend the hours on Thursday evening had been withdrawn.

Mr Williams explained that sound proofing work had been carried out at the premises and there were ongoing discussions with the landlord and upstairs tenants to control any potential noise nuisance.  He described the area surrounding the premises and informed the Committee that the premises was located on a commercial strip, next to a busy recording studio and an off licence.  The Blue Legume restaurant provided 20 covers outside of the restaurant and operated until 22.30hrs.  This application was for 6 covers outside of the restaurant.  Mr Williams also pointed out that no representation had been made by Enforcement Response.

All parties made a brief closing statement and the Committee retired to consider its decision.  The Chair informed all present that the decision would be circulated in writing following the hearing.

RESOLVED

The Committee carefully considered the variation application and the representations made by residents, as well as the council’s statement of licensing policy and the Licensing Act 2003 Section 182 guidance.

Having fully considered the written and oral representations and questioned those present, the Committee decided to grant the application in part as follows:          

Opening  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

The Chair will explain the procedure that the Committee will follow for the hearing considered under the Licensing Act 2003 or the Gambling Act 2005. A copy of the procedure is attached.

The Chair outlined the procedure to be followed at the hearing.

To consider an application for a review of the premises licence.

Daliah Barrett, Licensing Officer, introduced the application for a review of the premises licence made by Molly Keane, local resident, on the grounds of public nuisance and crime and disorder.  Ms Barrett informed the Committee that there had been a history of noise nuisance at the premises, with 60 complaints made since 2013, although 52 had not been established due to the noise stopping, or Council officers not being available to attend.  Representations had been made in support of the review by the Licensing Authority, Enforcement Response and local residents.  Ms Barrett informed the Committee that majority of the complaints made related to the old management, however it was important to note that complaints had still been made under the new management.  Ms Keane had been contacted by the Licensing Authority to see whether she still wanted to proceed since the change in management at the premises, and she indicated that she did.

Molly Keane, local resident, presented her application for a review of the premises licence.  She informed the Committee that she had moved into the premises in March 2017, and had not been able to sleep for more than 3 hours at night due to noise from the premises.  She had experienced incidents of intimidation from bar staff and patrons when making noise complaints.

Ms Keane explained that the garden of the premises was surrounded by residential properties, and it was mainly noise from the garden which caused the biggest nuisance.  The main source of noise was from people talking, however, the poor soundproofing of the premises and the opening and closing of the door when there was live music playing also caused a nuisance.  She added that she had stopped making complaints to the Council, as there had been no improvement in the levels of noise.

Ms Keane requested that the Committee reduce the hours of the premises in order to address the late night noise issues.  She explained to the Committee that the current hours were out of sync with other premises nearby, and without a reduction in the hours there would not be any change to the issues experienced.

Mark Eastwood, Enforcement Response, outlined the representation made by Enforcement Response.  The team were aware of the noise problems at the premises, and had experienced it first hand during visits.  The premises had been issued with warning letter, noise abatement notices, Fixed Penalty Notice and prosecution against the previous management.  He considered that a reduction in opening hours and use of the garden, along with the inclusion of conditions on the licence could help to resolve the issues.

In response to Ms Keane, Mr Eastwood confirmed that during a visit where live music was playing at the premises, the doors to the premises were closed and the music was still at a level where it would be impossible for anybody to sleep.

In response to the Applicant’s Representative, Richard Taylor, Mr Eastwood agreed that the proposed noise management plan could assist in dealing with noise problems.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

To consider any new items of urgent business admitted under item 3 above.

None.