Agenda and minutes

Members will disclose any pecuniary and any other significant interests they may have in relation to the matters under consideration.

Cllr Birch declared an interest in Item 7 due to a personal relationship with the applicant. She left the room for this item.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 02 September 2021.

The minutes of the meeting held on 02 September 2021 were confirmed as a correct record.

Report of the Corporate Director Environment.

The Corporate Director Environment submitted a report to assist members in determining an application submitted under section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003, by J Peghall for a new premises license.

The Chair introduced the members of the committee and officers in attendance. John Sherwood, Sarah Coop and Robert Hopkinson attended on behalf of the applicant company.

No objectors were in attendance at this meeting. As one objector had declined attendance and no registration of intention to speak had been received from the other, the committee considered whether to proceed with the meeting in the absence of the objector, and noting all issues raised. It was agreed to proceed with the hearing in the absence of the objector.

The Senior Licensing Officer introduced the report. She explained to members that the premises license was for the sale and consumption of alcohol on the premises from 11.30 am to midnight each day of the week. This application also included the provision of live entertainment indoors from 11.30 am to midnight each day of the week. This had originally also included providing live entertainment outside the premises but this was withdrawn after agreements with Environmental Health.

The Senior Licensing Officer pointed out to the committee that the application had received two written representations within the public consultation timeframe, both of which objected to the noise produced by the live entertainment. She noted to the committee that no other relevant authorities had objected to the application, but that a number of conditions had been agreed with the applicants. The lack of planning permission to change the usage of the premises from a restaurant to a bar was also pointed out.

Members were notified that the applicants had been trading on two separate occasions under a temporary events notice, from the 13-19 September and the 21-27 September with no music provided. There had been no issues submitted during these TENs.

John Sherwood, explained that under the temporary events notices they had been granted, the business had been doing well. He said that they had had a wide variety of customers, with many expressing positive opinions on the business. Sarah Coop, who is intended to be the designated premises supervisor, explained to the committee that the intention was to operate as a sports bar with a family element.

Councillors asked the applicants for clarification on a number of issues, including the following:

·         Level of noise inside the bar, controls on the music and their ability to assess the noise level as mentioned in condition 12 from Environmental Health

·         Agreement to the conditions made by the police and Environmental Health

·         The restaurant element of the premises

·         The purpose and clientele of the bar (lively sports events, families, provision of protein shakes on the menu for the customers of the gym next door)

·         Experience running a bar and particulars on staff contracts, including getting home late at night

·         The incident on September 1 2021, when the bar opened without a license and the subsequent events after this,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

Report of the Corporate Director Environment.

The Corporate Director Environment submitted a report detailing the responses received during the public consultation to the draft policy of the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy, in accordance with Minute LIC.20 of the 25 February 2021.

The Senior Licensing Officer introduced the report. She highlighted to members that they had previously agreed a draft policy which then went out for public consultation. She pointed out to members that Appendix 1 of the report showed that the consultation had resulted in very few engagements and comments., She told members that, because of the recent pandemic, the Licensing officers had written individually to every licence holder and had invited comments, but had received a poor response. She informed the committee that she could not identify any area that required a change of wording having regard to all matters including the responses.. If approved, she recommended that the policy take effect from 1 April 2022. She added that certain measures would need to be put in place before drivers could sign up to the DBS service, and that this was the reason for the recommended lead-in period. Discussions took place around the approval and adoption of the draft policy.

RESOLVED that the draft Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policybe approved without alteration and take effect from 1 April 2022.

In accordance with Paragraph 11 of the Access to Information Rules in Part 4 of the Council’s Constitution, the Chief Executive has determined that the report submitted under item 7 of this agenda is “Not for Publication” because it contains “exempt information”, as defined in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

 If the Committee agrees that the public and press should be excluded for this item, it will need to pass the following resolution:

 “That the public and press be excluded from the meeting whilst agenda item 7 be considered, as it refers to exempt information as defined in category 1 (information relating to any individual) of Part 1 of Schedule 12(a) of the Local Government Act, 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Variation Order 2006 and, that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information”.

In accordance with Paragraph 11 of the Access to Information Rules in Part 4 of the Council’s Constitution, the Chief Executive had determined that the reports submitted under items 5 and 6 of this agenda were “Not for Publication” because they contained “exempt information”, as defined in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

The Committee passed the following resolution:

“That the public and press be excluded from the meeting whilst agenda items 5 and 6 were being considered, as they referred to exempt information as defined in category 1 (information relating to any individual) of Part 1 of Schedule 12(a) of the Local Government Act, 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) Variation Order 2006 and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information”.

Report of the Corporate Director Environment.

The Corporate Director Environment submitted a report to provide members of the Licensing Committee with information to assist them at the hearing.

The applicant was present at the meeting.

Decision

The Licensing Committee refused to grant a Wyre Dual Driver Licence.

Reasons for the decision

The Committee were not satisfied that the applicant was a fit and proper person to hold a Wyre Dual Driver’s licence at that time.