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Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: The Executive Meeting Room - Third Floor, The Guildhall, Portsmouth. View directions

Contact: Jane Di Dino 023 9283 4060  Email: jane.didino@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

23.

Appointment of Chair

Minutes:

Councillor Claire Udy was appointed Chair.

 

24.

Declaration of Members' Interests

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

 

25.

Licensing Act 2003 - The Alchemist, R02 to R03, Central Square South Building, Gunwharf Quays, PO1 3TW pdf icon PDF 536 KB

Purpose

 

The purpose of this report is for the committee to consider an application for the grant of a new premises licence pursuant to section 18 of the Licensing Act 2003 ("the Act").

 

The Committee is asked to determine this matter.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Present

Rebecca Ingram, Solicitor

AntheaHassiakos, Operations Director (Alchemist)

Simon Potts, Managing Director (Alchemist)

Councillor Rob Wood, ward councillor

 

The Chair welcomed those present and outlined the procedure the Sub-Committee would follow. The council's Legal Advisor emphasised that only those who had submitted representations within the statutory timeframe could speak. All material relied on at the meeting has to have been disseminated in advance. When speaking representatives need to adhere to the points made in their written representations. However, some additional material has been produced today by the applicant and residents which all parties have agreed can be considered.

 

Councillor Rob Wood was attending in order to represent residents ("other persons") who had registered to speak at the meeting.

 

The council's case

The Principal Licensing Officer introduced the report which was an application for the grant of a new premises licence under Section 18 of the 2003 Licensing Act. The application was being considered by the Sub-Committee as one representation in favour and thirty-nine representations against had been received. Environmental Health confirmed on 10 May that the most recent complaints about noise in the area (Bar 38 and The Licquorist) were in 2013.

 

In response to questions from members, the Principal Licensing Officer gave the licensing hours for neighbouring premises. Closing times range from 11.30 pm to 3 am depending on the day of the week; the casino has the latest closing time of 6 am daily.

 

The applicant had no questions for the Principal Licensing Officer.

 

In response to questions from residents who had made representations, the Principal Licensing Officer and Legal Advisor clarified that:

·         Anyone can apply for a licence and it is granted until representations are made and then a hearing is held.

·         If an area becomes saturated with a certain type of establishment then the licensing authority can apply a policy limiting applications to the area; however, there is no Cumulative Impact Zone (CIZ) for the area around the Alchemist. Demand for a CIZ is usually led by the police, the leading authority on crime and disorder.

·         When a CIZ is applied there is a rebuttable presumption that any additional licences in the zone will be refused. The burden is on applicants to show granting the licence will not cause problems.

·         As there is no CIZ in this area the onus and evidential burden is on objectors to show that granting the licence would cause problems. The meeting can only consider the application for the Alchemist and not the licences of other premises.

·         CIZs were last reviewed in 2017 and there is one in the Guildhall Walk area.

·         Additional conditions can be added to a licence.

·         The Sub-Committee can only consider this application and not discuss other premises or policies.

 

In response to a question from the ward councillor the Principal Licensing Officer clarified that the licensing objective of "Protection of children from harm" usually applies to the sale of alcohol. Harm from noise and smoking comes under "Prevention of public nuisance.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.