The Committee and Scrutiny Support Officer confirmed that the Sub-Committee would comprise Councillors I Brown, Connal and Crout.

The Sub-Committee was asked to elect a Chair for the Hearing.

RESOLVED –

that Councillor Crout be elected Chair for this Hearing.

There were no disclosures of interest.

Report of the Head of Community and Customer Services

This report asks the Sub-Committee to consider an application for a new premises licence following the receipt of representations. 

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Head of Community and Customer Services setting out details of an application for  a new licence at the above premises. 

The Licensing Officer introduced the report.  The application was for a new licence for a takeaway serving late night refreshments until 0400 Monday to Saturday and 0100 on Sunday.  He noted that the reference to a restaurant in paragraph 9.1 of the report should read ‘takeaway’.  He highlighted the representations which had been received and advised that no representations had been withdrawn.  The premises was located within the town centre and paragraph LP3 of the Licensing Policy advised that applications should be granted subject to conditions as the sale of alcohol had not been requested.  Conditions had been suggested by Environmental Health as well as by Licensing to address the concerns raised.  The hours requested were outside those recommended in policy LP2 and the Sub-Committee could limit the hours if they felt it was appropriate for the promotion of the licensing objectives. He reminded the Sub-Committee that they were not bound by the policy and that they should give reasons if they departed from it.

Ms Catherine Trollope presented the objection on behalf of Environmental Health.  She advised that the representation was centred on the prevention of public nuisance in the forms of noise and litter.  She noted that there were residential dwellings both above the premises and in the immediate vicinity.  Planning permission had been granted for a further 64 residential units on the Parade above commercial premises and permission was pending for an additional 18 units. She had circulated a paper which included a map of the location of the premises, other late-night premises and the residential dwellings.  Environmental Health was concerned that a substantial number of residents could be affected by noise from the premises.  It was likely that there would be customers in the area after 0400.

Ms Trollope highlighted the other late-night premises in the area on the map and their closing times.  Most premises closed between 2330 and 0300 with the exception of Oceana which closed at 0400 four nights a week.  The closest late-night premises to Woody Express was Yates which closed at 0200 three nights of the week.  She also referred to the closing times of other licensed takeaways in the vicinity, the latest closing times of which were 0330 on Fridays and Saturdays, but which were situated further away from residents.

Environmental Health had also compiled a list of complaints.  The flats located at 101 the Parade were located above Woody Express.  There had previously been two complaints including that the extractor fan had caused a disturbance while the premises was open.  There had been a number of complaints about Yates which demonstrated problem with noise levels in the vicinity.  There had also been complaints about the noise from the hairdressers located next door to Woody Express.  She said that this demonstrated that the flat above did hear noise from the premises.  Complaints had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.