Agenda and minutes

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (adopted July 2012), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests , Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting. A DPI is defined in The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012 No. 1464) and Appendix 3 of the Council’s Code of Conduct.  A personal interest is defined in paragraph 2.8 of the Code and a prejudicial interest is defined in paragraph 2.9. In the interests of complete transparency, Members of the County Council, who are not also members of this committee, are encouraged to declare any interests they may have in any matters being discussed even though they may not be under any obligation to do so under any relevant code of conduct.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee noted the agreed procedure to be followed when considering Licensing Applications under the Licensing Act 2003.  The Chairman introduced the members of the Sub-Committee and the Officers present. 

The Chairman confirmed the following points:

•     That the Officer’s report relating to the case, the procedure to be adopted during the hearing and the documents which the authority is required to provide under the Regulations had been received by all parties in advance of the meeting;

•     That no representations had been withdrawn.

The Chairman advised that he would give each party 5 minutes to put forward their case.

The Licensing Officer presented the report as detailed on page 5 of the agenda and drew members’ attention to the following points:-  

·         An application had been received for a premises licence to be granted under the Licensing Act 2003 for 68 Middle Street, Yeovil;

·         The proposed licensable activities applied for included plays, films, indoor sporting events, live music, recorded music, performance of dance, anything of a similar description to that falling within live music, record music and performance of dance, late night refreshment and supply of alcohol – on and off sales;

·         The proposed hours open to the public were 00.00 to 23.59 Monday to Sunday;

·         The applicant had confirmed that a notice had been displayed at the premises and that a further notice was placed in the Western Gazette for the requisite period;

·         The premises were situated within an area where the cumulative impact policy applied.

The Chairman invited the representative from the Licensing Authority to address the Sub-Committee.  The Licensing Manager explained that he did not feel that the applicant had sufficiently demonstrated that the application would not impact on the licensing objectives.   He referred to Paragraph 2.4.2 of the Statement of Licensing Policy which required applications for premises licences with a terminal hour later than 12 midnight where the sale of alcohol was the main activity to be subject to close scrutiny by the Responsible Authorities.  The applicant had applied for a 24 hour licence with numerous licensable activities and in his opinion had failed to clearly demonstrate through the Operating Schedule how the licensing objectives would be met.  Reference was also made to Paragraph 2.4.3 which related to the Licensing Authority giving careful consideration to the nature of the venue proposed.  The Council were keen to promote establishments at which the service and consumption of alcohol was not the primary activity.  The application was clearly for a late night drinking venue with the primary activity being the consumption of alcohol.  He highlighted that throughout the application there appeared to be no immediate plans for other activities to take place.  The Licensing Manager also referred to Paragraph 3.2.2 of the Statement of Licensing Policy in relation to the Cumulative Impact Policy.  He believed that the application would add to the cumulative impact already being experienced in this area of the town and therefore recommended that the application should be refused.

In response to a member question, the Licensing Manager advised that there had been no previous applications refused in relation to the Cumulative Impact Policy although other applications that had been considered related to variations or transfer of licences.  The application was the first full application to be considered in the Cumulative Impact Policy area.

The District Licensing Officer was then invited to address the Sub-Committee.  She explained that Avon & Somerset Constabulary had made a representation in objection to the premises licence for the premises formerly known as Fuzzy Duck.   Having considered the licensing objectives and the Cumulative Impact Policy, the Police believed that by granting the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.