Agenda and minutes

To elect a Member to Chair the meeting.

Resolved:           That Councillor Boyce be elected as Chair of the meeting.

To approve and sign the minutes of Licensing Hearings held on 9 January 2014 and 23 January 2014.

Resolved:           That the minutes of the Licensing Hearings held on 9^th and 23^rd January 2014 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

Members are asked to declare:

·        Any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        Any prejudicial interests

·        Any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare any personal, prejudicial or pecuniary interests they may have in the business on the agenda. None were declared.

Members considered an application by Under the Influence (Yorkshire) Ltd for a premises licence.

In coming to their decision, Members took into consideration all of the evidence and submissions that were presented to them and determined their relevance to the issues raised and the licensing objectives.

The following were taken into account:

1.   The application form.

2.   The Licensing Managers report and her comments made at the hearing. She advised that the application was for a premises licence at 54-56 Fossgate, York. Plans showing the location and floor layouts were tabled.  The premise is located within the special policy area as of 27^th March 2014 but the licence application had been made before this date with the consultation period ending on 12^th March. A number of conditions had been agreed with North Yorkshire Police and the Council’s Environmental Protection Unit prior to the hearing. Consultation had been carried out successfully.

3.   The applicant’s Solicitor’s representations made at the hearing including that the premise would be replacing the old Army and Navy Stores and that a planning application for change of use had now been granted.  Due to the relatively small size of the building and the use of tables on the ground floor and the first floor, the capacity was likely to be half of the 170 quoted in the application and 90% of the floor area would be seated. The concept would be that of a coffee shop and bistro with alcohol being a part of the overall sales, rather than the main focus.  A comprehensive operating schedule was in place for the premises and in response to concerns raised by local residents it was advised that trained staff would monitor the conduct of patrons smoking outside the building and there would be door staff on duty at peak times. The premises would have no effect, cumulative or otherwise, on the promotion of the licensing objectives.

4.   The representations made in writing and at the hearing by  two local residents who raised concerns about the potential for public nuisance and disturbances caused by the customers from the premises being in the area late at night, particularly customers smoking outside the premises. They raised concerns about the number of licensed premises opening up in the area and the potential for the addition of this licence to add to the existing problems of public nuisance and crime and disorder.

The Sub-Committee were presented with the following options:

Option 1     Grant  the Licence in the terms applied for.

Option 2     Grant the Licence with modified/additional conditions imposed by the Licensing Committee.

Option 3     Grant the Licence to exclude any of the licensable activities to which the application relates and modify/add conditions accordingly.

Option 4     Reject the application.

Members chose Option 2 and agreed to grant the licence with the following conditions as amended and agreed with North Yorkshire Police and conditions agreed with the Council’s Environmental Protection Unit:

Condition 8 – reworded as follows:

(a)A CCTV system will  ...  view the full minutes text for item 79.