Agenda, decisions and minutes

Councillor Hannah Hockaday was elected as chair for this meeting.

There were no declarations of members' interests.

The purpose of the report by the Licensing Officer is for the committee to consider an application for the variation of a premises licence pursuant to section 35 of the Licensing Act 2003 ("the Act").

The matter has been referred to the committee for determination following receipt of relevant representation(s) from two responsible authorities. Further detail about the representations received is shown at paragraph 4 below.

The committee is requested to determine the variation application.

Decision to grant the application

The Committee heard the representations of the applicant, the relevant Responsible Authorities and the advocate acting on behalf of the applicant in addition the Committee considered all the papers put before them, along with the annexes attached to each document.  The Committee was grateful to the presenting officer having within his report outlined the relevant up to date history of the various applications with respect to this premise.

The Committee accepted that this was a finely balanced case and a difficult decision.

The Committee was aware that the premise is located within an area of Special Policy.  This Committee was engaged by reason of referral to the Committee by the relevant Responsible Authorities - Police and Licensing - both of whom made objection to the application for a variation to the current licence which was granted to the applicant on 5 April 2017.

The licensing objectives that are allegedly not promoted within the area of Special Policy are: prevention of crime and disorder and the prevention of public nuisance.  The Responsible Authorities both indicate that the applicant has failed to sufficiently engage in negating any increase to the cumulative impact by reason of having appropriate conditions or measures in place to overcome the legal burden placed upon the applicant.

The Committee look to all the Responsible Authorities, but mainly the Police, for guidance and assistance in determining the effect of a licensing activity in terms of all the licensing objectives, but principally in terms of the Police, prevention of crime and disorder - the Committee should but are not obliged to accept all reasonable and proportionate representations made by the Police.

The Committee took a similar view with respect to the representations made by the Licensing Department.  The Committee was aware of the recently obtained information relating to the number of incidents occurring within the Cumulative Impact Zone (CIZ) having been informed that the information was obtained relevant to "Freshers Week".

The above stated, the Committee balanced within their consideration all representations made by the applicant through his advocate and by way of comments made by the applicant himself.

In considering the application for a variation of licence the Committee was mindful of the following facts as having been established upon a balance of probability and further that they have been specifically taken to the relevant parts of the Statutory Guidance under Section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003.

1.         The Committee was aware of the history of this premise in that the licence was revoked as of 18 January 2017 thereafter to be granted an alternative applicant on 5th April 2017. The Committee confirmed that whilst they are aware of this fact that they look upon the application from the perspective of each application being dealt with upon its individual facts.  The Committee approached this case upon the basis of considering whether within its operating schedule the applicant has sufficiently addressed the issue of cumulative impact, the burden being upon the applicant to  ...  view the full decision text for item 74.

Derek Stone presented his report as Licensing Officer for the variation of hours until 0500 every day (application as set out in Appendix A), and he reported that the public notices had been properly advertised.  He referred to the issue of cumulative impact and the history of the premises with a transfer of ownership and the existing licence having been granted in April 2017 (Appendix B).  The representations from Responsible Authorities were set out in Appendix C regarding the negative impact on the Cumulative Impact Zone (CIZ).  Mr Stone referred members to the relevant guidance, also set out in his report.

No questions were raised at this point by the members, Responsible Authorities or by the applicant and his legal representative.

Responsible Authorities

Nickki Humphreys, Licensing Manager, Portsmouth City Council, presented her representations to oppose the extension of hours; the local authority was concerned due to the cumulative impact, as defined in statutory guidance, with the potential impact on the promotion of the licensing objectives in the CIZ. This was supported by the Licensing Policy agreed by the full Council in July 2017.  She was concerned by the concentration of a large number of drinkers leaving premises at one time.

As part of the Licensing Manager's evidence an analysis of offences recorded during Freshers' Week in September 2017 compared to the previous year had been provided, which showed a substantial increase, with more incidents of crime and disorder and public nuisance occurring in the early hours. The applicant had offered no further measures.  She asked that the application be refused.

Members asked questions relating to:

·         Whether there had been problems reported since the change of owner of the premises? There was not information specific to the premises and it was noted that the tables showed the number of incidents in the street of the CIZ generally.

·         How had the record of incidents been compiled? This was through the record of incidents recorded by the Chief Officer of Police's management system.  This was a snap-shot and the figures were not re-examined weekly.

Mr Wallsgrove, the applicant's solicitor, asked questions which included:

·         The timing of the granting of late night licenses, two of which had been granted before Freshers' Week of 2016; the Licensing Manager was concerned regarding the cumulative effect with 7 being granted in 2017.

·         Freshers' Week was the one of the highest risk weeks in Portsmouth - it was reported that there had been a lot of work by licensing officers with the nightclubs leading up to it.

·         Were the CIZ primary concerns of alcohol fuelled offences? It was reported that cumulative impact covers a variety of concerns, including other facilities which encourage people to stay in the area.

PC Peter Rackham, then presented his representations as a Responsible Authority on behalf of the Chief Officer of Police. These were made on the grounds of crime and disorder and concern on the cumulative impact on the CIZ, the Section 182 guidance and the Licensing Policy approved by the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.