Agenda and draft minutes

To appoint a Chair for the duration of the meeting.

It was MOVED by Councillor Bird and SECONDED by Councillor Denton and RESOLVED to appoint Councillor Patsy Cummings as Chair of the meeting.

Members are invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and other registrable and non-registrable interests they may have in relation to any item(s) of business on today’s agenda.

There were none.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business.

The sub-committee is asked to consider the application for a review of the premises licence at The Foxley Hatch, 8-9 Russell Hill Road, Purley, CR8 2LA and whether to take such of the following steps as it considers necessary for the promotion of the licensing objectives:

·       To modify the conditions of the licence

·       To exclude a licensable activity from the scope of the licence

·       To remove the designated premises supervisor

·       To suspend the licence for a period not exceeding 3 months

·       To revoke the licence

For this purpose, the conditions of the licence are modified if any of them is altered or omitted or any new condition is added.

The Chair outlined the procedures for the Licensing Hearing in line with the Licensing Act 2003 and the Council’s protocol.

The Premises Licence Holder, Donal Ennis was present.

The Licensing Officer introduced the report to the Sub-Committee. The review mechanism within the Licensing Act 2003 was explained.

The application for review had been made by a local resident as an ‘other person’ and was regarding the prevention of public nuisance licensing objective.

The premises licence had been granted by way of transfer on 22 December 2023, the premises licence was included in the agenda pack at Appendix A2. The premises licence permitted the sale by retail of alcohol on and off the premises and the provision of regulated entertainment namely recorded music throughout the premises without restriction on time.

The requirement for a Designated Premises Supervisor for a premises licence for the sale of alcohol was noted. It was advised that in premises with a licence for the sale of alcohol, recorded music was not a licensable activity between the hours of 8.00am and 11.00pm.

No other parties had made representations on the application. Further information provided by both parties had been circulated for consideration by the Sub-Committee.

In response to questions from the Sub-Committee officers advised of the administrative process to transfer a premises licence to another person. Any changes sought required a formal application for a variation to a premises licence.

The Sub-Committee queried the council Noise Pollution Team's involvement to date. It was advised the Noise Pollution Team had received 2 noise complaints this year and an officer had been in contact with the applicant in February 2024. There were no representations from responsible authorities on the application.  It was confirmed the Noise Pollution Team would respond to further complaints. Nothing had been witnessed to date and there had been liaison between the Premises Licence Holder and applicant for review.

The applicant for review was not present, however they had requested for the Sub-Committee to listen to the audio clips and view the video submitted in support of the application.

The public webcast of the meeting was paused to view the video and resumed shortly after.

The Sub-Committee listened to audio clips submitted by the applicant for review. It was noted that the timings of the recordings were unknown and the written representations from the applicant were also to be considered by the Sub-Committee.

It was noted that live music between the hours of 8.00am and 11.00pm was not a licensable activity. There was no set decibel level for music and public nuisance was measured subjectively with premises licence holders expected to take measures to ensure the licensing objectives were not compromised.

The Premises Licence Holder, Donal Ennis was given the opportunity to speak and advised:

-       They had not been aware of the application for a Licence Review until the initial meeting with the council Licensing Team at the premises.

-       The initial complaint had stated the premises was had been illegally  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10/24

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

The following motion was moved by Councillor Cummings and seconded by Councillor Denton to exclude the press and public:

Pursuant to the provisions of regulation 14 paragraph (2) of the Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005, the licensing authority may exclude the public from all or part of a hearing where it considers that the public interest in so doing outweighs the public interest in the hearing, or that part of the hearing, taking place in public. For the purposes of paragraph (2), a party and any person assisting or representing a party may be treated as a member of the public. In light of the possibility of disclosing personal data if the circulated by a party to the hearing were made available in public.

The motion was put and it was agreed by the Sub-Committee to exclude the press and public for the consideration of the video submitted by the applicant for Item 5. Licensing Act 2003 – Application for Review of a Premises Licence at The Foxley Hatch, 8-9 Russell Hill Road, Purley, CR8 2LA.

The public webcast of the meeting was paused and resumed shortly after.