To elect a Chairman for the hearing.

Councillor JW Hope MBE was elected as Chairman for the Regulatory Sub-Committee hearing.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received by Councillor P Jones CBE.

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

Councillor JW Hope MBE attended the meeting as a substitute member for Councillor P Jones CBE.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the Agenda.

GUIDANCE ON DECLARING PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS AT MEETINGS

The Council’s Members’ Code of Conduct requires Councillors to declare against an Agenda item(s) the nature of an interest and whether the interest is personal or prejudicial.  Councillors have to decide first whether or not they have a personal interest in the matter under discussion.  They will then have to decide whether that personal interest is also prejudicial.

A personal interest is an interest that affects the Councillor more than most other people in the area.  People in the area include those who live, work or have property in the area of the Council.  Councillors will also have a personal interest if their partner, relative or a close friend, or an organisation that they or the member works for, is affected more than other people in the area.  If they do have a personal interest, they must declare it but can stay and take part and vote in the meeting. 

Whether an interest is prejudicial is a matter of judgement for each Councillor.  What Councillors have to do is ask themselves whether a member of the public – if he or she knew all the facts – would think that the Councillor’s interest was so important that their decision would be affected by it.  If a Councillor has a prejudicial interest then they must declare what that interest is and leave the meeting room.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To consider an application for a variation of the premises licence in respect of Dusk, 100 Commercial Road, Hereford, HR1 2BJ.

The Regulatory Sub-Committee was convened in order to determine an application for a variation to a premises licence in respect of Dusk, 100 Commercial Road, Hereford. The application was submitted in accordance with Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003.

The Chairman introduced the Members and Officers and asked any interested parties to introduce themselves. He advised them of the hearing procedures and asked if any party required an extension to the 10 minute time limit for public speaking, no extensions to the time limit were required.

The Licensing Officer introduced the report and advised Members that the advertisement had been seen and was accepted. He advised Members that the premises fell within a cumulative impact area as designated in the council’s special policy.

Mr Firth, a local resident who had made a representation in respect of the application, addressed the sub-committee. He addressed a number of issues, including:

• The Commercial Road area was intolerable over the weekend.
• Hours for licensing should be reduced rather than increased.
• If the extension to licensing hours was granted people would not disperse from the area until 4:00 – 4:30 am.

Mr Wilkinson addressed the sub-committee in support of his application. He addressed a number of issues, including:

• There had been no complaints received when the premises had opened until 4 am by virtue of a Temporary Even Notice.
• People had dispersed from the premises throughout the night with no more than 80 people remaining at the premises at 4:00 am.
• Public Houses were now opening later, resulting in less trade for nightclubs.
• No other objections had been received from neighbouring residents.

In response to a question from the Licensing Officer, the applicant advised that patrons leaving the premises would be supervised by door staff with 3 SIA registered staff positioned on the street outside of the nightclub.

In response to a question from the Special Projects Lawyer, the applicant confirmed that he would be happy to reduce the hours in respect of sale of alcohol to allow for ‘drinking up time’. He added that he would not wish to reduce the hours in respect of late night refreshment.

The Sub-Committee retired to make their decision, the Democratic Services Officer and the Special Projects Lawyer retired with them to offer procedural and legal advice.

RESOLVED

That the application for a variation to a premises licence in respect of Dusk, 100 Commercial Road, Hereford, be rejected for the following reasons.

·         Herefordshire Council has a Special Policy in force covering the area in which the applicant’s premises is located.

• The Special Policy creates a rebuttable presumption that applications for material variations of licensable activity will add to the cumulative impact in the area.

• The applicant has not presented sufficient evidence or proposals, in the reasonable opinion of the sub-committee, to rebut this presumption therefore in accordance with paragraph 5 of the Special Policy this application is rejected.