Chairman: To be appointed
Venue: Room F01e, Church Square House, 30-40 High Street, Scunthorpe
Time: 2.00 pm
E-mail Address: sophie.smith@northlincs.gov.uk
AGENDA
- Appointment of Chairman.
Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests, personal or personal and prejudicial interests, and significant contact with applicants, objectors or third parties (lobbying), if any.
Licensing Act 2003 - Application for the variation of a premises licence, Stanholme Guest House, Low Street, Haxey.
Any other items which the chairman decides are urgent by reason of special circumstances which must be specified.
MINUTES
PRESENT: – Councillors Rayner, K Vickers and P Vickers.
The sub-committee met at Church Square House, Scunthorpe.
1691 CHAIRMAN – Resolved – That Councillor K Vickers be and he is hereby appointed chairman for the meeting.
Councillor K Vickers thereupon took the chair.
1692 DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS, PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AND SIGNIFICANT CONTACT WITH APPLICANTS, OBJECTORS OR THIRD PARTIES (LOBBYING) - There were no declarations of pecuniary interests, personal or personal and prejudicial interests and significant contact with applicants, objectors or third parties.
No lobbying was declared.
1693 LICENSING ACT 2003 - APPLICATION TO VARY A PREMISES LICENCE - STANHOLME GUEST HOUSE, LOW STREET, HAXEY, NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE - The Director: Operations submitted a report advising members of an application for the variation of a premises licence at Stanholme Guest House, Low Street, Haxey.
Details of the application were outlined in the report, together with the application for the variation of the premises licence, two representations from Responsible Authorities and three representations received from Interested Parties.
The Director in his report reminded the sub-committee that the options available to it under the Licensing Act 2003 when considering such applications were:
- To refuse to vary the licence
- To vary the licence with additional conditions
- To vary the licence without additional conditions
- To vary the licence but restrict the licensable activities
- To vary the licence with restricted times
The applicants and their representative, and Humberside Police and their representatives addressed the sub-committee and responded to questions.
Following the summary of the case, the meeting was adjourned for deliberation by members and then reconvened when the decision of the sub-committee was stated as follows: –
Resolved - That after careful consideration of the verbal presentations made at the hearing, the information contained in the agenda bundle and subsequent information returned with the Licence Holders and Humberside Police’s Counter Notice, the Sub-Committee unanimously agreed to refuse to vary the premises licence as applied for by the Licence Holder.
The Sub-Committee consider the licensing objectives to be its paramount concern when considering and determining any application. The councillors gave particular consideration to the submissions made by Humberside Police and the presentation by the Licence Holder in respect of the existing use of the premises and its intentions going forward.
The submission made by Humberside Police emphasised that the premises were a residential property and, in its current form it was not of a suitable size to accommodate the licensing activates applied for. They also raised concerns that the licence holder does not and would not seek to appoint an appropriate level of staff, including SIA registered Door Staff, to be able to control large events in order to mitigate any impact the activities may have on the patrons attending the premises and the residents surrounding it. Therefore, the Police were concerned that the Licence Holder would be unable to adhere to the licensing objectives of public safety and the prevention of crime and disorder for the same reason in that large numbers could gather in relatively small spaces which could not be controlled appropriately.
The submissions made by the Licence Holder stated that they have successfully held events over the past five (5) years under Temporary Event Notices without any complaints or incidents. They also produced and circulated to all in attendance photographs to demonstrate the size of their property and that the bar is not the same size as would be seen in a public house. In particular, they emphasised that it has always been their intention to be able to hold events within the village of Haxey, which would bring the community together and provide an alternative venue for entertainment in a village that does not contain many local social attractions.
The Sub-Committee did note that the Licence Holder had installed CCTV at the premises as a preventative measure, which was not a condition on their existing licence to date. However, the Sub-Committee unanimously agreed that they were not satisfied that the Licence Holder demonstrated what additional preventative measures would be put in place to promote the licensing objectives should the application to vary the premises licence be granted. In addition, the Sub-Committee shared the same concerns as Humberside Police in respect of the size of the premises. The councillors were also concerned over the Licence Holders ability to be able to implement and maintain sufficient controls to ensure compliance with any additional conditions and the licensing objectives to ensure the safety of the public, prevention of public nuisance, the protection of children from hard and the prevention of crime and disorder. When making its decision, the Sub-Committee considered the statutory guidance issued under s182 of the Licensing Act 2003 in particular paragraphs 2.2 to 2.3, 2.8, 2.10, 2.25 and 2.26 and 10.14 along with the Local Authority’s Licensing policy, in particular paragraph 43(1), 64, 84, 85, 94 and 95.