Agenda and minutes

The Chairman placed on record his thanks to the previous Chairman of the Licensing Committee, Councillor Pam Bosworth who had chaired Licensing Committee meetings for a considerable number of years. Thanks were also placed on record for Councillor Elvis Stooke who had been the Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the previous year.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Patsy Ellis and Councillor Jane Kingman.

Councillor Robert Leadenham, the Vice-Chairman of the Committee declared an interest in agenda items 5 as the Ward Councillor for the area where the Premises Licence was being considered and also as he was reading out a statement on behalf of an interested party.  He took no part in the deliberations or decision making and left the meeting during this part of the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 May 2025 were proposed, seconded and AGREED.

Committee to determine an application for a new premises licence report ENV906 from the Licensing Officer.

Decision

That the Premise Licence for the Riverside, Wharf Road, Stamford be granted as applied for subject to an additional condition being added in respect of not playing any type of music on the outside platform.

The Chairman introduced those present and confirmed who would be speaking in respect of the application before the Committee. In respect of the Premises Licence for The Riverside,  Paul Warren-Cox spoke on behalf of Inga Bliumina and her partner Dmitrij who were the applicants. Interested parties were Carly Guppy and Aaron Mildren.

One Member questioned whether the application should be deferred due to the Planning Permission to be determined and it was confirmed that the Premises Licence was completely separate to a Planning application and there was no reason for the Committee not to determine the Premise licence application before them.

The Licensing Officer presented report ENV906 which concerned an application for a new premises licence for The Riverside, Wharf Road, Stamford.  The application was for the following:

•         Live Music Indoors; Monday to Sunday 10:00 to 00:00

•         Recorded Music Indoors; Monday to Sunday 10:00 to 00:00 and outdoors; Monday to Sunday 10:00 to 22:00

•         Provision of Late Night Refreshment Indoors; Monday to Sunday 23:00 to 23:59

•         Supply of alcohol on the Premise only; Monday to Sunday 10:00 to 00:00

•         Opening hours;  Monday to Sunday 10:00 to 00:30

•         Extension of hours for activities for New Years Eve into New Years Day

The premises had previously been licensed as a nightclub and although had been the subject of a review instigated by Lincolnshire Police, this had been in respect of a failed test purchase taking place and not down to noise disturbance. 

During the consultation period the authority received a number of representations and comments on behalf of members of the public and these were appended at Appendix 2.  The reasons for the representations included concerns regarding noise disturbance travelling from across the river to the residential houses or nearby residents and the potential use of the balcony area and safety concerns for the sale and consumption of alcohol located by the river. No representations had been received from any of the responsible authorities.

A location plan and correspondence between the applicant’s representative and the residents was appended to the report at Appendix 3. A further representation had been made but was not accepted, as it was outside of the timeframe for making representations.

Licensing Officers have delegated authority to decide whether a representation is relevant, vexatious, or frivolous however, Section 9 of the Revised Guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003 states:

9.9 It is recommended that, in borderline cases, the benefit of the doubt about any aspect of a representation should be given to the person making that representation. The Subsequent hearing would then provide an opportunity for the person or body making the representation to amplify and clarify it.

It was felt that the representations at Appendix 2 did not fall  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Committee to determine an application for a new premises licence report ENV905 from the Licensing Officer.

Decision

That the Premise Licence for the Ramroot Festival, Arena UK, Allington Lane, Allington be rejected.

The Chairman introduced those present and asked who was speaking in respect of the Premise Licence.  Mr Niall Walker on behalf of Lovis Media Ltd stated that he was speaking in respect of the application before the Committee.   

Councillor Robert Leadenham was speaking on behalf of a resident and therefore removed himself from the Vice-Chairman role during consideration of the item and took no part in the deliberations and decision making in respect of the licence.

The Licensing Officer presented the report which concerned an application for a new premises licence for the Ramroot Festival to be held at the Arena UK, Allington Lane, Allington.  The application was received on 15 April 2025.    At the time a management plan had yet to be finalised and during the consultation period, Lincolnshire Police liaised with the applicant and revised  Premise Licence conditions were agreed and a different Designated Premises Supervisor was named.  The application was also changed to a time limited premise licence to cover the event for the period 4 – 7 July 2025 only.  Any future events would require a new premise licence to be submitted.  

Environmental Health had also liaised with the applicant regarding the hours requested for live and recorded music and that a separate detailed noise management plan be produced and agreed with them. It was agreed by the applicant that the timings for live and recorded music would be scaled back to the following and this was confirmed in Appendix 3 to the report:

-        Outdoor stages – Performance of live and recorded music

Friday and Saturday 09:00 to 00:00 Sunday 10:00 to 00:00

-        Indoor stages – Performance of live and recorded music

Friday and Saturday 09:00 to 02:00 Sunday 10:00 to 02:00

The event management, noise management and site plan were still being revised and finalised, however a copy of the latest documents and site map at the time of writing the report were enclosed at Appendix 4.  The Applicant had confirmed that the hours for the sale of alcohol on the premise would be scaled back until two hours after the provision of live and recorded music had ended and was attached to the report within Appendix 4.

During the consultation period the authority had received one representation from a member of the public which the applicant offered mitigation for and was at Appendix 5 of the report.  A further representation was made but subsequently withdrawn after further information was provided by the applicant and Environmental Health.  A third resident representation was received but this was not accepted as it was outside the representation period.

Licensing Officers had delegated authority to decide whether a representation was relevant, vexatious, or frivolous however, Section 9 of the Revised Guidance issued under Section182 of the Licensing Act 2003 states:

9.9 It is recommended that, in borderline cases, the benefit of the doubt about any aspect of a representation should be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Councillor Leadenham to discuss with the Committee, item deferred from meeting held on 20 May 2025.

It was agreed that due to time constraints the item would be deferred to the next meeting of the Alcohol, Entertainment and Late Night Refreshment Licensing Committee.

None.

The meeting closed at 1pm.