Agenda item

Report ENV525 by the Service Manager, Community Safety & Licensing.

(Enclosure)

The Vice-Chairman, Councillor Russell was voted into the Chair for the remainder of the meeting as Councillor Bosworth retired from the rest of the meeting.

Decision

That an application for a premise licence at Dowsby Village Hall be refused.

The Solicitor to the Committee introduced those present and clarified who was to speak on behalf of the application, Miss Belinda Smith Secretary to Dowsby Village Hall Committee and the potential Designated Premises Supervisor Alan Towning, former Chairman of the Eagles Motorcycle club would speak on behalf of the applicants. Mr Peter Jackson would represent a group of resident objectors.

The Licensing Officer introduced report ENV525 which was an application for a premises licence at Dowsby Village Hall. The license was to allow the following activities:

The application was for these activities to take place indoors with the exception of plays, live music and late night refreshment which they request to be held inside and outside the premises.

There had been 11 objections from interested parties and one from a responsible authority.  The Licensing Officer informed the committee that the interested parties had alleged that there were already problems with a bikers club booking the hall up to 3 times a week.  They said that this had resulted in increased noise in the early hours of the morning, vomit and broken glass in the grounds of the hall and the children’s playground.  Increased traffic parking problems and unacceptable language within earshot of children.  The responsible authority have indicated that because the hall is close to residential properties they have concerns regarding the provision of live music outdoors until 11pm and that this may lead to public nuisance.  The Licensing Officer referred to Environmental Protection Team Leader who had made the statement. She could not attend the meeting but had made a statement and he read out the following:

Given the proximity of the hall to local residents I do not consider that it is appropriate that there be a provision of live music outdoors from 12 mid-day to 11pm seven days a week as this is likely to create a public nuisance.  The applicant states that live music is only likely to be for summer fetes and that at other times it is likely to be indoors usually on Fridays and Saturdays.  Taking this into consideration the hall has the option of submitting a Temporary Event Notice for such occasional outdoor events.  In view of this I would suggest that should the licence be granted that live music be restricted to indoors only and that windows and doors are kept closed during performances.

No questions were asked at this stage in the proceedings.

The applicant, Miss Smith then presented her application.  In presenting her case Miss Smith indicated that misunderstandings had taken place and the concerns that had been raised could have been dealt with had a public meeting been held. The application had been submitted to try and promote the village hall on a commercial basis and the application had been based on Rippingale’s premise licence.  The hall had a large capacity over 100 and it was a viable venue to hire out.  The hours asked for were to cover all eventualities including serving alcohol up to 11pm at night.   Miss Smith then gave some background history to the application including grants that had been made to the village hall for alterations including a replacement roof. 

The problem that the village seemed to have was with the Eagles Motorcycle Club who regularly used the village hall and made regular payments each week.  The village hall committee saw this as a good opportunity to apply for a premises licence in order to promote the hall more widely given the income stream being received.  The club had made a huge contribution to the village hall including painting through, laying carpet tiles and fitting out the kitchen and had put on Halloween and fireworks which the village was invited to. They had installed a bar which was removable and installed low lighting.   She referred to the AGM that had been held the previous night and at which two of the objectors had withdrawn their objections and one was  now on the village hall committee.   The club had transformed the village hall and the village hall committee wished to build on this.  She then briefly detailed the lack of bookings for the hall and how a premise licence would hopefully help address this.  She then addressed the concerns that had been raised with regard to noise, traffic, vomit, broken glass and the bad language.  She indicated that notices were to be displayed asking people to modify their language and to leave the premises quietly.  She introduced Mr Towning who had been involved with the motorcycle club for 10 and half years he was the ex chairman of the club and the potential DPS.  Mr Towning then gave a brief background of the work that the motorcycle club did and how they had invested within the village.  Miss Smith then circulated a copy of the licence agreement which the village hall had with the motorcycle group in which there was a clause about unacceptable behavior.  Also that three months notice had to be given from either side if they agreement was to be broken.  She introduced Mr Towning who had been involved with the motorcycle club for 10 and half years he was the ex chairman of the club and the potential DPS.

The Licensing Officer then asked for clarification about the objections that had been “withdrawn”. He confirmed that as the licensing authority had not received confirmation from the objectors that their objections were withdrawn and therefore they still stood.  He also clarified about conditions being attached to the license such as having four events outside per year unfortunately this would be virtually impossible to enforce and was why the use of Temporary Events Notices would be a better option.  He clarified Mr Towning’s position with the hall also.

Questions were then put to Mr Towning by Mr Jackson about his current position with the Eagles Motorcycle club and his reasons for leaving to which Mr Towning replied.  Mr Jackson also asked about previous bases for the club and why the motorcycle club had moved on.

Mr Jackson then spoke on behalf of the objectors.  He recognised that the hall had been used infrequently but that in the last 12 months it had principally been used by the motorcycle club.  He said that the village hall committee had let the hall be fitted out like a bikers club and he circulated photographs which indicated that the hall was used by the club on a permanent basis. He referred to the bar and chilled cabinets that had been installed together with fixtures that had been permanently attached to the walls.   Equipment that had been within the hall had been taken out and stored in an outside building and the hall looked like a bikers social club. The biker’s equipment was not taken home at night and any ideas to promote the village hall would be thwarted by the bikers equipment left in the hall. Mr Jackson then spoke about the high noise levels from the premises which were very disruptive to those residents living nearby including revving of engines.  He felt that there was a lack of respect by the people for the area that was used and that Mr Towning as the possible DPS would not have the control over the members of the motorcycle club.  He referred to incidents when he and another gentleman had found glass both on the playground situated to the rear of the hall and within the grounds of the hall. He then spoke about the traffic hazards caused by parking on both sides of the road. Mr Jackson suggested that, people often congregated outside of the premises admiring each other’s bikes, and bikes going up and down the road late at night were very noisy.  Mr Jackson then spoke about instances of bad language by the bikers which had been heard by children playing in adjacent gardens.  Following a recent event the parish council had asked for a meeting with the village hall committee to discuss concerns that the village had but even though the chairman of the village hall had promised a meeting no meeting had been forthcoming.  It was felt that the village hall committee could not control the users of the village hall as they could not control the bikers.  Mr Jackson felt there were health and safety issues with the vomit and broken glass, and disturbance of people affecting both their mental and physical health by the loud noise and activities of the people using the hall.

Questions and comments were then made by the applicant to Mr Jackson.  Mr Jackson reiterated what he had said indicating that a lot of the fixtures such as the chiller cabinets remained within the hall and these were stocked with alcohol and soft drinks and the freezers in the hall were well stocked with pies and burgers which gave the impression of permanent rather than a temporary occupancy.

The Licensing Officer then questioned Miss Smith about the content of the photographs specifically whether alcohol was being sold as they had no license to sell alcohol. Miss Smith indicted that the alcohol was part of the motorcycle clubs membership and was for the bikers only.  The till shown was for the food only.    Mr Jackson commented that there was also a price list for alcohol but he did not have the photographs with him.  Mr Towning suggested that the Eagles had not charged for alcohol since the previous November and the Licensing Officer asked why the club had been charging for alcohol without a valid licence.

Further discussion took place between Miss Smith and Mr Jackson about the contents of the hall and its use by the motorcycle club.

The Licensing Officer then gave his closing statement.  The Committee must consider the application for a premise license for Dowsby Village Hall having regard to the representations of the parties take such steps as it considers necessary for the promotion of the licensing objectives. The Licensing Officer then listed the options available to the Committee.

The applicant, Miss Smith then gave her closing statement stating that the premise license was necessary to raise money and keep the village hall viable.  The sale of alcohol and music events were a necessity in order to help make a profit and guarantee the halls future.

(2.45pm All parties including the Licensing Officer left the meeting)

The Committee considered the representations made by the parties and discussed the application with regard to the potential affect on the licensing objectives.  It was felt that the licensing objectives for crime and disorder, public nuisance and the protection of children from harm were being undermined and therefore it was proposed and seconded to refuse a premise license for Dowsby village hall.

(2.55pm All parties including the Licensing Officer returned to the meeting)

The Solicitor to the Committee read out the decision:

The Committee had considered all the representations from all the parties.  The Committee considered that the evidence from the interested parties had been overwhelming in support of the proposition that the licensing objectives of the prevention of crime and disorder, the prevention of public nuisance and the protection of children from harm were being undermined because the application seemed solely to benefit the Eagles Motorcycle club and there had been no evidence of any wider community benefit.  The Committee was concerned that the presence of the Eagles had already undermined the objectives by the revving of engines leading to public noise nuisance, bad language of members both inside and outside the premise some of which had been heard by children.  The  Committee had heard evidence of vomit and broken glass, noise from inside and outside and the Committee was not satisfied that Mr Towning as the Designated Premise Supervisor had sufficient control over the behaviour of members after considering his admitted recent disagreements with other members of the club.  In conclusion the Committee was satisfied that the above concerns were so overwhelming in this case  that conditions were not appropriate to be able to promote the licensing objectives and as a result the application should be refused.    The Committee recognise that it would be a rare event when a premise license was refused but consider that the evidence in this case had been so overwhelmingly strong as to support the decision.  The Committee should like to remind the applicants that they still had the opportunity to use Temporary Event Notices.

The Solicitor informed those present that the decision was appealable to the Magistrates Court within 21 days from written notification of the decision.