Agenda and draft minutes

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

Resolved:

That Councillor Hutton be appointed the 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.

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

The Chairman of the Panel will summarise the procedure and announce the equal maximum amount of time for each party to speak for the hearing.

A.         Items 1 and 4 (b) will be undertaken in private session by the Panel and not in the Meeting Room.

B.         Items 2, 3 and 4(a) will be recommended to the Panel to be held in public.

C.         The Panel may decide to exclude the public from all or part of a hearing where it considers that the public interest in so doing outweighs the public interest in the hearing, or that part of the hearing, taking place in public. (This includes a party and any person assisting or representing a party)

The Chairman explained the procedure for the meeting including that an equal time limit of forty minutes for all parties.

To consider an application to review the Premises Licence for Kaos Bar, 38-42 Queen

Street, Blackpool, FY1 2AY.

A. Application and representations submitted. To consider the attached report.

B. Determination of the application to review the Premises Licence for Kaos Bar.

The Licensing Panel will indicate how the decision is to be communicated to interested

parties.

The Licensing Panel considered an application to review the Premises Licence of Kaos Bar, 38-42 Queen Street. The Review Application had been submitted by Lancashire Constabulary  on the grounds of the Prevention of Crime and Disorder, Public Safety, the Prevention of Public Nuisance and the Protection of Children from Harm, with supporting representations having been submitted by Environmental Protection, the Licensing Authority and 3 members of the public.

In attendance at the hearing were Sergeant Nat Cox and PC Emma Pritchard from Lancashire Constabulary along with Mr Lee Petrak on behalf of the Licensing Authority and Ms Nicky Todd from Environmental Protection. The Licence holder and Designated Premises Supervisor Mr Neil Cropper was in attendance accompanied by his agent Mr Mark Marshall.

Sgt Cox explained that the Police had based their review application around issues both inside and outside the venue primarily from the hour of 03.00 onwards supported by 176 police logs directly linked, in their opinion to the venue and witness evidence from police officers and North West Ambulance Service. They asked the panel to consider a number of occasions of breaches of licence conditions of note, one where there were insufficient door supervisors, and another where a 17-year-old female was on the premises. The review application stated that the Police had lost confidence in Mr Cropper who in their opinion was either unable or unwilling to prevent incidents from happening. During the hearing, the panel viewed a 30-minute montage of CCTV footage compiled by the police from CCTV cameras both inside and outside of the venue.

Mr Lee Petrak for the Licensing Authority expanded on his representation and expressed support for elements of the Police position. He noted, following the viewing of the CCTV footage that groups congregating outside of the venue appeared to be a flashpoint for disorder.

Ms Todd for Environmental Protection explained their involvement in dealing with noise complaints. Miss Todd indicated that there were no recent complaints, but explained that could be because the flats immediately beside the premises which were the source of the complaints had been prohibited from being used as residential accommodation.

The three public objectors were not in attendance but their written evidence was considered by the Panel.

Mr Marshall, the Licence Holder’s representative provided a written copy of the oral representations he wished to make as this contained numerous cross references to the written evidence produced. Mr Marshall highlighted the view of himself and the Licence Holder which was that not all police logs related to the premises, some related to activity which would almost occur at licensed premises and only a small number represented issues with the premises.  The licence holder acknowledged that a number of the police logs related to the venue, although many did not. Some of these were unavoidable where door staff had appropriately refused entry to the club, others related to incidents where customers had lawfully been ejected from the premises but had then gone on to cause a disturbance outside. Mr Marshall  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.