To receive apologies for absence.

To receive any details of Members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the committee.

There were no substitutes present at the meeting.

To receive declarations of interests in respect of Schedule 1, Schedule 2 or Other Interests from members of the committee in respect of items on the agenda.

To consider an application for a review of a premises licence in respect of St Katherine’s Barn, St Katherine’s, Ledbury. HR8 1AQ called by David Thomas as a member of the public.

Members of the licensing sub-committee from the council’s planning and regulatory committee considered the above application, full details of which appeared before the Members in their agenda, the background papers and the supplements published on 17 October 2019.   

The technical licensing officer presented the report.     

The sub-committee heard from Environmental Protection who highlighted the following

·         There had 8 Temporary Event Notices (TENS) in 2018 and 4 up until April 2019.     There had been no complaints received in respect of these events.

·         The premises licence had been granted on 11  April 2019.

·         The premises were located in Ledbury Town Centre behind high town and in the area of St Katherine’s car park.   They were very close to the southeast corner surrounding the car park.  The barn was in a large open area and due to the hard surfaces surrounding it, any noise was likely to be amplified.  

·         The closest neighbour was 10 metres away and there were five dwellings near the premises. 

·         The barn was a listed Tudor barn.  The roof is effectively open as there was boarding on the tiles and between the eaves there were substantially filled with a padding.    The windows were of a perspex nature.  There was a sliding door attached to the premises. 

·         There had been consideration to performance noise controls inside the premises.

·         During the period May to October 2019, there had been 11 noise complaints received

o   27 May 2019

o   24 June 2019

o   16 July 2019

o   1 August 2019

o   12 August 2019

o   19 August 2019

o   29 August 2019

o   9 September 2019

o   23 September 2019

o   7 October 2019

·         Letters/emails had been sent to the premises licence holder on 31 May, 19 June and 26 June 2019.  

·         On 26 June 2019 a 30 minute conversation had taken place with the premises licence holder which had included advice on mediation, mitigation and controls.   The premises licence holder had not seemed to be aware of the conditions on the licence and stated that the neighbours needed to be more involved in their activities.   The advice which had been given was that it was not the responsibility or requirement of the neighbours to be involved in the premises’ activities but it was the premises licence holder’s responsibilities to contain the activities and it was for the premises licence holder to make sure that she was not disturbing the neighbours.   It was the responsibility of the premises licence holder to ensure that suitable conditions were on place.  

·         During the period August 2019 to October 2019, there had been 12 visits to the premises during 9 of which the out of hours team had witnessed loud music and bass music. 

·         On 2 August 2019 noise equipment was installed into a residential property and it was noted that the noise was close but it was unclear whether it was in or outside of the property.

·         Sound clips were played to the sub committee which illustrated the level of noise: 

o   2310 hrs on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.