Agenda and minutes

Councillor Lee Mason was appointed chair of this hearing.

No interests were declared.

Purpose of report

The purpose of this report is for the Committee to determine an application for the grant of a sexual entertainment venue licence in respect of the premises situated at 1-3 Surrey Street Portsmouth PO1 1JT and known by the name of Wiggle. The application has been submitted by Dunglen Ltd.

RECOMMENDED

a) that the Committee determine the application for the grant of a sexual entertainment venue licence in respect of the premises situated at 1-3 Surrey Street, Portsmouth, PO1 1JT and known by the name of Wiggle; and

b) in determining this application, the Committee shall have regard to paragraph 7.10a of its statement of licensing policy as set out below:

Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 7.10 (relating to the numerical control on the number of sex establishments in a particular locality), the presumption to refuse shall not apply to:

• The renewal, transfer or variation of an existing sex establishment licence; or

• The grant of a new sex establishment licence, whereby an application was made during the transitional period 1 November 2011 until 31 October 2012 to those premises that can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Licensing Authority that during the 12 months prior to the commencement of the transitional period they have been regularly providing sexual entertainment that previously was only regulated under the Licensing Act 2003.

The Licensing Sub-committee hearing procedure was followed.

Present:

Peter Baulf, Legal Advisor

Tracy Blair, Legal Advisor

Nickii Humphreys, Licensing Manager

Mr Paul Ojla, Applicant

Mr Jon Wallsgrove, Solicitor for the Applicant. 

Interested parties making deputations

Ms C Dacke

Ms C Storey

DECISION

In the matter of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982

Licensing of Sex Establishments - Sexual Entertainment Venue.

Application for the grant of a licence - Dunglen Ltd - Wiggle, 1-3 Surrey Street, Portsmouth, PO1 1JT

The Committee have considered all written material placed before them along with the submissions made by the advocate retained by the applicant company, together with all the comments made by the Licensing Authority and the individual objectors to the application.

Portsmouth City Council adopted Schedule 3 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 as amended by the Policing and Crime Act 2009 so that as an Authority PCC could regulate Sexual Entertainment Venues - the decision was made by PCC on 22 March 2011. 

Portsmouth City Council adopted the Sex Establishment Licensing Policy in October 2012. 

This Committee is asked to determine the application by the applying company dated 26 April 2012. 

The Policy specifically states that at paragraph 7.10a that the presumption to refuse shall not apply to applications for renewal, transfer or variation of an existing licence or with respect to the grant of a new sex licence whereby the application was made during the transitional period of 1 November to 31 October 2012 to those premises that can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the LA that during the 12 months prior to the commencement of the transitional period they have been regularly providing sexual entertainment that previously was only regulated under the Licensing Act 2003. 

The Committee is therefore engaged in considering:

1.    The basis of the applicant's ability to qualify as having provided sexual entertainment in a period 12 months before the transitional period commenced. 

2.    That an application for a licence has been applied for within the requisite period.

The Committee has heard the following evidence and on balance each case being assessed upon its own individual merits and facts is established to conclude that the applicants were providing sexual entertainment and the application was made within the transitional period. The committee rely upon the following:

·         That it is clearly the case that the premises was trading at the appropriate point in time.

·         No challenge was raised as to the basis of the transitional provisions applying.

Having concluded that the application is within the scope of the policy the committee must consider whether there are any statutory grounds to either refuse the application upon a mandatory basis or whether the evidence would allow refusal upon any discretionary ground.

The submissions made and accepted are such that there are in law no statutory grounds to refuse the application.

The Committee is engaged in considering whether there is any discretionary basis to refuse the application.  The Committee is required to consider the current PCC policy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

Purpose of report

The purpose of this report is for the Committee to determine an application for the grant of a sexual entertainment venue licence in respect of the premises situated at 1 Granada Road, Southsea, Portsmouth, PO4 0RD and known by the name of Elegance. The application has been submitted by Wellhot Ltd.

RECOMMENDED

a) that the Committee determine the application for the grant of a sexual entertainment venue licence in respect of the premises situated at 1 Granada Road, Southsea, Portsmouth, PO4 0RD and known by the name of Elegance; and

b) in determining this application, the Committee shall have regard to paragraph 7.10a of its statement of licensing policy as set out below:

Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 7.10 (relating to the numerical control on the number of sex establishments in a particular locality), the presumption to refuse shall not apply to:

• The renewal, transfer or variation of an existing sex establishment licence; or

• The grant of a new sex establishment licence, whereby an application was made during the transitional period 1 November 2011 until 31 October 2012 to those premises that can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Licensing Authority that during the 12 months prior to the commencement of the transitional period they have been regularly providing sexual entertainment that previously was only regulated under the Licensing Act 2003.

The Licensing Sub-committee hearing procedure was followed.

Present:

Peter Baulf, Legal Advisor

Tracy Blair, Legal Advisor

Nickii Humphreys, Licensing Manager

Mr Paul Ojla, Applicant

Mr Jon Wallsgrove, Solicitor for the Applicant. 

Interested parties making deputations

Ms C Dacke

Ms C Storey

DECISION

In the matter of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982

Licensing of Sex Establishments - Sexual Entertainment Venue.

Application for the grant of a licence - Wellhot Ltd - Elegance, 1 Granada Road, Southsea, PO4 0RD

The Committee have considered all written material placed before them along with the submissions made by the advocate retained by the applicant company, together with all the comments made by the Licensing Authority and the individual objectors to the application.  The Committee has looked at the specific objections from page 333 of the bundle to page 443.

Portsmouth City Council adopted Schedule 3 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 as amended by the Policing and Crime Act 2009 so that as an Authority PCC could regulate Sexual Entertainment Venues - the decision was made by PCC on 22 March 2011. 

Portsmouth City Council adopted the Sex Establishment Licensing Policy in October 2012. 

This Committee is asked to determine the application by the applying company dated 24 April 2012. 

The Policy specifically states that at paragraph 7.10a that the presumption to refuse shall not apply to applications for renewal, transfer or variation of an existing licence or with respect to the grant of a new sex licence whereby the application was made during the transitional period of 1 November to 31 October 2012 to those premises that can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the LA that during the 12 months prior to the commencement of the transitional period they have been regularly providing sexual entertainment that previously was only regulated under the Licensing Act 2003. 

The Committee is therefore engaged in considering:

1.    The basis of the applicant's ability to qualify as having provided sexual entertainment in a period 12 months before the transitional period commenced. 

2.    That an application for a licence has been applied for within the requisite period.

The Committee has heard the following evidence and on balance each case being assessed upon its own individual merits and facts is established to conclude that the applicants were providing sexual entertainment and the application was made within the transitional period. The committee rely upon the following:

·         That it is clearly the case that the premises was trading at the appropriate point.

·         No challenge was raised as to the basis of the transitional provisions applying.

Having concluded that the application is within the scope of the policy the committee must consider whether there are any statutory grounds to either refuse the application upon a mandatory basis or whether the evidence would allow refusal upon any discretionary ground.

The submissions made and accepted are such that there are in law no statutory grounds to refuse the application.

The Committee is engaged in considering whether there is any discretionary  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.