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Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

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17.

Appointment of Chair

Minutes:

Members RESOLVED that Cllr J Cloke should Chair the meeting.

 

18.

Administrative Function

Members are respectfully reminded that, in determining the matters listed below, they are exercising an administrative function with the civil burden of proof, i.e. ‘on the balance of probabilities’.  The matter will be determined on the facts before the Sub-Committee and the rules of natural justice will apply.

Minutes:

Members were respectfully reminded that, in determining the matters listed

below, they were exercising an administrative function with the civil burden of

proof, i.e. ‘on the balance of probabilities’. The matter would be determined

on the facts before the Sub-Committee and the rules of natural justice would

apply.

 

19.

Application to Vary a Premises Licence, Dusk, Ongar Road, Pilgrims Hatch CM15 9SS pdf icon PDF 463 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

1             This is the Decision Notice relating to the above application together with the reasons for the decision. The decision follows a hearing which took place before the Licensing Sub-Committee at the Town Hall on 20 May 2021 at 7pm which was attended by the Applicant, responsible authorities, and other persons. The Committee deliberated after that hearing and provided a brief summary of its decision for the benefit of those who attended.

 

2             Members carefully considered the application for a variation of the premises licence with a view to promoting the licensing objectives, as required by the Licensing Act 2003. The Committee also had regard to the National Guidance and the Council’s own Licensing Policy in making this decision.

 

3             Members considered the written relevant representations and other documentation contained within the Agenda and put before the Committee, as well as the oral representations made by all parties who attended the hearing on 20 May 2021.

 

4             The Committee heard oral representations from Paul Adams (Licensing Officer), Councillor Vicky Davies, Megan Bashir, Asha Bashir, Brian Billington, Lawrence Morrison, Councillor Poppy, David Carter (Environmental Health), and Dave Leonard (Licensing Authority). We also heard from Kevin Leigh (Counsel) on behalf of the Applicant, supported by Shakil Islam and Sharif Uddin from Dusk, and a Door Supervisor from the premises. Emails from other persons (Councillor Keith Parker and Greg Hart), who had made relevant representations but could not attend the hearing, were read out to the Committee by the Licensing Officer.

 

5             Considered was given to the particular locality of the premises in a semi rural setting located to the west of Bentley Golf Club (with which the car park is shared). The surrounding area is relatively flat. The nearest residential dwellings are approximately 100m to the south west and 160m to the north of the premises.

 

6             The premises operate as a multi-cuisine, fine dining restaurant, with a function room and an outside shisha smoking lounge in a dedicated enclosed area complete with a retractable roof. 

 

7             Members had regard to the previous application history which was set out in an Appendix to the Officer Report [83-84].

 

8             As relevant, Members noted that the Applicant was granted a premises licence on 1 October 2019. The Applicant then applied to vary the licence to add the sale of alcohol. That application was granted on 11 November 2020 when a condition was imposed preventing the consumption of alcohol on the premises other than alcohol sold under the authorisation of the licence. The rationale for imposing that condition was that adding the sale of alcohol to the licence would bring about greater regulation, which should be balanced by stopping the bring your own alcohol policy which the premises had previously been operating, and that it would not promote the licensing objectives for the premises to operate both. On 23 November 2020, following a review application brought by a local resident based on persistent noise nuisance, one of the conditions imposed by the Committee was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.