Agenda and minutes

Resolved that Councillor Bridge be appointed Chairman of the Licensing Committee for the municipal year 2017/18

Resolved that Councillor Robinson be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Licensing Committee for the municipal year 2017/18.

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

Councillor Robinson declared a Significant Interest in Licensing application Item 6 – Application for a new premises licence for Valiants, Lancaster Road, Out Rawcliffe, as she originally grew up in Out Rawcliffe and her parents live there, but neither she or they had either verbally or written in as objectors to the application. She did not consider that this interest gave rise to a perception of a conflict of interest or was likely to prejudice her judgment.The parties present at the meeting raised no objection and she remained in the meeting during the discussion and voted on the item and the parties present at the meeting raised no objection.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 23 February 2017.

The minutes of the Licensing Committee meeting held on 23 February 2017, were confirmed as a correct record.

Report of the Service Director Health and Wellbeing.

The Service Director Health and Wellbeing submitted a report to provide members of the Licensing Committee with information to assist them at a hearing to determine an application for a new premises licence under the Licensing Act 2003, for Valiants, Lancaster Road, Out Rawcliffe, PR3 6BL. The application was limited to two dates, in 2017.

Present at the meeting were: - The applicant – Mr Wallace.  The Applicant’s legal representatives- Ms McNeill (Counsel) and his Solicitor - Mr Edwards. Three members of the public were also present to speak as objectors to the application.

It was confirmed that everyone present had received the Agenda and documentation upon which the Applicant intended to rely.

Ms McNeill then addressed the committee and outlined the application in more detail, explaining the reasons for the new premises licence. She informed the committee that the applicant had tried to meet the concerns of the local residents and the conditions had been agreed with the Police and the Environmental Health Officer. This application was then withdrawn and a revised application was submitted for just two events to take place during 2017.

As the report described, the application had been correctly advertised on the premises and in the newspaper, as required and during the 28 day representation period, four representations were received from residents stating a number of concerns. The Committee asked that two new conditions were added to those already agreed which are outlined below and which were accepted by the Applicant.

Three members of the public spoke of their concerns and objections to the application and committee members listened and then asked questions of all present.

Members then retired to consider the application in closed session. The Licensing Committee then reconvened and the Chairman announced the Committee’s decision.

RESOLVED that

A new premises licence for Valiants, Lancaster Road, Out Rawcliffe, PR3 6BL, be granted on the basis set out in the decision below. The committee noted that conditions had been requested by the Police and agreed by the applicant, in addition to those volunteered on the application. Members also determined that two additional conditions should be applied to the licence, those being:-

1.    Temporary toilet facilities will be located in the covered area of the premises as marked on the plan of the premises at Annex 4.and

2.    Mobile catering facilities will be located in the covered area of the premises as marked on the plan of the premises at Annex 4

Reasons for Decision taken:-

Ø  The Committee noted the objections from local residents but were satisfied that a grant of a new premises licence subject to the conditions, would not undermine the Licensing Objectives. The Committee were satisfied that the residents’ concerns had been addressed in the conditions which the Committee noted were extensive. The Committee noted that there were no objections from the police or other Responsible Authority.

Ø  The Committee was satisfied that a number of the neighbours’ concerns fell outside the Licensing regime and related  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

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 9of this agenda is “Not for Publication” because item 9 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 9 is being considered, because 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 exemptions outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED that the public and press be excluded from the meeting whilst agenda item 9 was being considered, because 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 exemptions outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report of the Service Director Health and Wellbeing

The Service Director Health and Wellbeing submitted a report to provide members of the Licensing Committee with information to assist them at a hearing.

The Police Licensing Officer had been called away during the previous agenda item, however PS Helen Parkinson had passed a hand written statement to the Licensing Manager and requested that it be handed out to members and Mr F and Mr R at the hearing.

Mr F was present at the meeting, along with Mr R as support, but he was not legally represented.

All parties were allowed time to read PS Parkinson’s submission.

Mr F spoke to the committee, explaining the circumstances of his conviction (February 2015) as referred to in the report with regard to his past conduct.

Members asked questions of Mr F, and he provided an explanation of the incident and also what he had done and achieved from when he was last before committee in November 2015, up to the present date.

The report noted that Mr F had not received any further convictions during this time and Mr F confirmed this.

Members retired to consider the application in closed session. The Licensing Committee then reconvened and the Chairman announced the Committee’s decision.

RESOLVED that Mr F be granted a Personal Licence without any further conditions.

Reasons for Decision taken:-

The Committee were satisfied that Mr F had matured since the last application in December 2015 and were impressed with his progress and level of commitment shown to date. In addition, the Committee were encouraged by his maintained sobriety and absence of further offending and his continued attendance at SMART.

The Committee noted the seriousness of the offences and the concerns from the police that Mr F had only just finished his suspended sentence three months ago and that there was a risk that once the suspended sentence was finished his previous behaviour could come to light.

Nevertheless, the Committee were encouraged by the fact that he had not come to the police’s attention since his sentence and that he had been working in and around alcohol at the Hilton Hotel in his current role without any issues. The Committee therefore considered that with the continued support from his employers together with his own continued resolve that it was unlikely he would reoffend.

The Committee considered that he had turned his life around and by granting the licence, it would help to focus his mind further and drive him on in his career.

For these reasons, the Committee concluded that the granting of the application would not undermine the crime and disorder objective.