Agenda and minutes

The Licensing Panel considered the appointment of a Chairman for the meeting.

Resolved:

That Councillor G Coleman be appointed Chairman for the meeting.

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in doing so state:-

(1) the type of interest concerned

(2) the nature of the interest concerned; and

(3) whether they have or have not sat on a Planning Committee which has previously considered a planning application in respect of a licensed premises which is also subject to consideration for a premises licence as part of the agenda for this meeting.

If any Member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

(Members are asked to also pay particular attention to the guidance sheet on interests supplied with the agenda).

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

The Chairman explained the procedure for the meeting including that an equal time limit of twenty minutes had been allocated for all parties.

a. APPLICATION AND REPRESENTATIONS SUBMITTED. To consider the attached report

b. DETERMINATION OF THE APPLICATION FOR THE REVIEW OF A PREMISES LICENCE- HEATWAVE

c. ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DECISION FOR THE REVIEW OF A PREMISES LICENCE- HEATWAVE

The Licensing Panel considered a licence review for Heatwave, 1A, Dickson Road. The review had been requested by the Licensing Authority. The Police and Children’s Social Care had submitted representations in support of the application.

Mr Marshall, Head of Licensing Service, described the reasons for the review; namely that Heatwave had broken one of the conditions of the licence namely; operating beyond the agreed opening hours.  As a result, issues related to noise, nuisance, anti-social behaviour, delayed dispersal and crime and disorder had become particularly evident in the area surrounding the premises and in general in the Queen Street and Dickson Road localities.

Concerns had been raised after a number of visits to the premises by the Licensing Service and Police who observed breaches of the licence conditions on a number of occasions. In addition, when the licence holder was questioned regarding the conditions on the licence, he was unable to provide satisfactory answers. Mr Marshall added that he hoped any action taken against the premises might serve as a warning for other nearby operators to change their business model or style of operation to minimise the type of issues previously alluded to.

Sgt Helen Parkinson, Lancashire Constabulary, echoed Mr Marshall’s comments and reported on a series of incidents that had involved crime and disorder either at or close to the premises and in the general vicinity over a period of 12 months. She added that it had become increasingly difficult for the Police to allocate sufficient resources to the area and the current situation regarding incidents occurring had become untenable.

Sgt Parkinson described the impact on the emergency services of the incidents occurring regularly in and around the premises. Members of the Panel were shown CCTV footage of one incident in particular at the premises, which was shown to provide evidence of the type of incidents that had begun to occur more often and nearly always between the hours of 02:30 and 06:00 primarily on Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings.

Mr Marshall and Sgt Parkinson acknowledged that this period of time coincided with the closing time of two major nightclubs in close proximity to the venue and as such was the most profitable time for fast food establishments. However, they both agreed that the safety of the public and upholding the Licensing objectives should be the primary concerns and as such recommended that the opening times of Heatwave be reduced and the last serving time be brought forward to 03.00. Mr Marshall added that in his opinion, there was now a greater need for licence holders to robustly uphold their licence conditions and work with the Local Authority and Police to minimise the issues that had become commonplace in the area.

The licence holder was in attendance along with a legal representative, Mr Colebourne who presented the case on behalf of the licensee. It was suggested that the issues of crime and disorder and general anti-social behaviour prevalent in the general vicinity of the premises were as much an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.