Agenda and minutes

To elect a Member to act as Chair of the meeting.

Resolved: That Councillor Boyce be elected to Chair the meeting.

At this point in the meeting, Members are asked to declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        any prejudicial interests or

·        any disclosable pecuniary interests

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

Members were asked to declare any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests, any prejudicial interests or any disclosable pecuniary interests. None were declared.

Members considered an application by Blue Fly (York) Ltd for a Variation to Premises Licence Section 35 (3) (a) in respect of  Drawingboard, 10A New Street, York, YO1 8RA.

In considering the application and the representations made, the Sub-Committee concluded that the following licensing objectives were relevant to this Hearing:

1.   The prevention of crime and disorder. 

2.   Public safety.

In coming to their decision, the Sub-Committee took into consideration all the evidence and submissions that were presented, and determined their relevance to the issues raised and the above licensing objectives, including:

1.   The application form, in particular the existing licence conditions.

2.   The Licensing Officer’s report and her comments made at the Hearing. She outlined the application and advised that the premises were inside the special policy area (as approved by Full Council on 27 March 2014) and that consultation had been carried out in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003.

3.   The representations at the Hearing of the Applicant, and those of Mr Peter Black, his representative. The Applicant advised that he was aware this application fell within the special policy area and the implications of this. Mr Black advised that the pavement cafe had been in existence for six years at 3.1metres from the front of the premises, (which was outside of the existing licensed area of 2.1 metres from the front of the premises) and in that time there had been no issues. He pointed out that highways had given consent ten years ago and that retrospective planning permission had been granted in the fortnight prior to the hearing. Therefore, in his view this application was merely to bring the premises licence into line with these and to rectify a historical mistake. Finally, the Applicant stated that he was content to withdraw the request for removal of conditions 14/15 from the licence.

4.   The representations made byNorth Yorkshire Police in writing and at the Hearing. They stated that the extension of the pavement cafe from 2:1metres to 3:1metres would have an impact on public safety, given that there would be significant numbers of people in drink on the public highway. It would also cause issues for emergency vehicles trying to navigate the street. They requested that if the Sub - Committee was minded to grant the variation that it consider conditioning that the barrier be moved back to 2:1 metres at 17:00 each day when the area ceased to be a pedestrianised zone. They also highlighted that the small street was a ‘hot-spot’ for crime and disorder with significant levels of crime and anti-social behaviour recorded over a 12 month period. They stated that removal of conditions 14 and 15 could lead to the style of premises becoming a vertical drinking establishment, thus contributing further to anti-social behaviour in the area. Finally they reminded Members that the premises were located in the Special Policy of Cumulative Impact Area, therefore creating a rebuttable presumption against the granting of new licences or material variations in that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.