Agenda and minutes

To declare interests in any item on this agenda.

(a)      Pursuant to the Council’s Code of Member Conduct, Councillor C P Pond declared a personal interest in agenda item (3) – Variation of Existing Premises Licence – The Hollybush, 140 High Road, Loughton – by virtue of being acquainted with some of the objectors. The Councillor had determined that her interest was non-pecuniary and would remain in the meeting for the consideration of the application and voting thereon.

(b)      Pursuant to the Council’s Code of Member Conduct, Councillor L Mead declared a personal interest in agenda item (3) – Variation of Existing Premises Licence – The Hollybush, 140 High Road, Loughton – by virtue of being acquainted with some of the objectors. The Councillor had determined that her interest was non-pecuniary and would remain in the meeting for the consideration of the application and voting thereon.

To note the adopted procedure for the conduct of business by the Sub-Committee.

The Sub-Committee noted the adopted procedure for the conduct of business at the meeting.

(Licensing Team Manager) To consider the attached report.

The three Councillors that presided over this item were Councillors C P Pond (Chairman), I Hadley and L Mead. The Chairman welcomed the participants and requested that they introduce themselves to the Sub-Committee. In attendance on behalf of the application were: Mr S Gill, Commercial Director for Macmillan Breweries; Mr J Himsworth, Area Operations Manager for MacMillan Breweries; and Mr D Brown, the Designated Premises Supervisor for the Hollybush. Also in attendance were: Mr P Jones, Essex Police; Mr D Linnell, representing the Loughton Residents Association; and Mr A Buchan, an objector.

The Chairman then introduced the Members and Officers present, and outlined the procedure that would be followed for the determination of the application.

(a)        The Application before the Sub-Committee

The Licensing Enforcement Officer informed the Sub-Committee that an application to vary the Premises Licence had been received in respect of The Hollybush at 140 High Road in Loughton. The application had requested permission to vary the hours for Live Music and Recorded Music, as follows:

                                                Live Music                   Recorded Music

Sunday to Thursday               10.00 to 00.00             10.00 to 00.00

Friday & Saturday                   10.00 to 01.00             10.00 to 01.00

The application also requested the removal of the following condition from the Premises Licence:

            Any live and recorded music will end one hour before the terminal hour for the             sale of alcohol.

The application had been properly advertised and the Council had received eleven representations relating to the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, the prevention of public nuisance, and the protection of children from harm. Essex Police Licensing had also responded and offered a number of recommended conditions, which had been agreed with the Applicant and would be added to the Licence if the application was approved.

The Council’s Assistant Solicitor advised the Sub-Committee that a number of the representations were concerned with public nuisance, but there was no definition under the Licensing Act 2003 so the Sub-Committee should use the common law meaning of the term. In addition, representations should have only been made on the conditions to be varied.

(b)        Presentation of the Applicant’s Case

Mr Gill presented the application, emphasising that MacMillan Breweries had owned and operated the venue for 100 years. The application was simply requesting an extension of one hour for live and recorded music each evening, and was not seeking to extend the opening hours of the premises. There had been no representation from the Environmental Health authority, and 24 additional conditions for the Premises Licence had been agreed with Essex Police which were very comprehensive.

(c)        Questions for the Applicant

Councillor I Hadley asked where at the Premises any taxis would come to in order to collect customers; Mr Gill stated that they would come to the front of the premises as the back of the premises was closed at 10.00pm each evening.

In response to questions from the objectors present, the applicant stated that no additional soundproofing had been installed in the building, although all of the windows were double glazed.

(d)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

(Licensing Team Manager) To consider the attached report.

The three Councillors that presided over this item were Councillors C P Pond, I Hadley and L Mead. The Chairman welcomed the participants and requested that they introduce themselves to the Sub-Committee. In attendance on behalf of the application was Mr Y Cheung, a Director of Win Rise Limited. In attendance on behalf of Essex was Mr P Jones, and Mr D Linnell, representing Loughton Residents Association. The Chairman then introduced the Members and Officers present, and outlined the procedure that would be followed for the determination of the application.

(a)        The Application before the Sub-Committee

The Licensing Enforcement Officer informed the Sub-Committee that an application for a new Premises Licence had been received in respect of the Wo Fat Restaurant at 270-272 High Road in Loughton, along with representations from interested parties. The application had requested permission for the following hours:

The Licensing Enforcement Officer stated that the application had been properly advertised and the Council had received four representations relating to the prevention of public nuisance. Essex Police Licensing had also responded and offered a number of recommended conditions, which had been agreed with the Applicant and would be added to the Licence if the application was approved. A response had also been received from Essex Fire & Rescue Service, but they had no objections to the application.

(b)        Presentation of the Application

Mr Cheung stated that the primary reason for the application was to allow the restaurant to be open a little later at weekends. Mr Cheung acknowledged that there were flats in the High Road as well as businesses and recognised the concerns of local residents, but staff employed in the restaurant lived in the flat above it and the restaurant had been in operation for 40 years now. The customers of the restaurant were not usually troublesome, and simply wanted to leave a later at weekends.

Mr Cheung emphasised that all of the suggested conditions had been agreed with Essex Police, and the Licensing Enforcement Officer had assisted with the application process as Mr Cheung had no previous experience of licensing procedures.

Mr Cheung concluded that he wished to run the business with integrity and transparency, and he would be happy to compromise with the application if the requested hours for Fridays and Saturdays were agreed.

(c)        Questions for the Applicant from the Sub-Committee

In response to questions from the Sub-Committee, Mr Cheung confirmed that he would be the Manager and Designated Premises Supervisor for the restaurant, and that the recorded music would be background music with no singing.

(d)        Questions for the Applicant from the Objectors

Mr Linnell  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

Exclusion

To consider whether, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press should be excluded from the meeting for the items of business set out below on grounds that they will involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended) or are confidential under Section 100(A)(2):

The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, which came into effect on 1 March 2006, requires the Council to consider whether maintaining the exemption listed above outweighs the potential public interest in disclosing the information. Any member who considers that this test should be applied to any currently exempted matter on this agenda should contact the proper officer at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

Background Papers

Article 17 - Access to Information, Procedure Rules of the Constitution define background papers as being documents relating to the subject matter of the report which in the Proper Officer's opinion:

(a)        disclose any facts or matters on which the report or an important part of the report is based;  and

(b)        have been relied on to a material extent in preparing the report and does not include published works or those which disclose exempt or confidential information and in respect of executive reports, the advice of any political advisor.

The Council will make available for public inspection for four years after the date of the meeting one copy of each of the documents on the list of background papers.

The Sub-Committee noted that there was no business which necessitated the exclusion of the public and press from the meeting.