To consider an application for a review of a premises licence in respect of: Out to Grass, Woodend Farm, Cradley, Herefordshire, WR13 5JW.

Members of the Licensing Sub-Committee of the council’s Planning and Regulatory Committee considered the above application, full details of which appeared before the members in their agenda and the reports published on 13 March 2026 and the supplements published on 16 March, 19 March and 20 March 2026.

The Chairperson on the Sub-Committee opened the hearing and explained that there was a preliminary issue to consider prior to moving to the full hearing of the application. It was proposed that a site visit was arranged to enable members to view the setting of the premises/campsite and understand the proximity to residential dwellings.

All attendees to the hearing were given the opportunity to comment on the proposed site visit. Two members of the public who had made representations in respect of the application for review, proposed that the hearing should proceed to hear the evidence first and that the site visit should take place following evidence being heard as this would provide greater clarity when the site visit took place. The representative of the Premises Licence Holder, was in agreement with the proposed site visit taking place and that this should happen before evidence was heard. The representatives of the applicant Responsible Authority, agreed that there should be a site visit before hearing the evidence in the case.

This concluded the evidence  heard in respect of the preliminary issue of a site visit at the hearing.

DECISION

The Sub-Committee’s decision was to adjourn the hearing to allow for a site visit to be undertaken to Out to Grass, Woodend Farm, Cradley, Herefordshire, WR13 5JW.

The site visit will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday 9 April.

The reconvened hearing will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Friday 10 April.

The site visit will be held in accordance with the following rules:

Attendees:

·       Member of the Sub Committee

·       Applicant Responsible Authority – Environmental Health Officers

·       Premises Licence Holder and their Agent

·       A member of the Licensing Authority – who will also take notes of the visit in the absence of the Clerk of the Committee.

·       The Sub-Committee’s Legal Advisor

The purpose of the site visit is fact finding.

The Sub Committee members will be able to ask Officers for the Applicant Responsible Authority and/or the Premises Licence Holder or their Agent to point out relevant features of the site and surroundings and to seek clarification on points the Sub Committee consider to be relevant.

No discussion of the merits of the case is permitted at site inspections and all questions from you will be put through the chairperson.

The visiting party will stay together as a group. Wherever possible the party should arrive at and leave the site together.

No decision on the application will be made until the meeting of the Sub Committee on 10 April 2026 at which the application is to be considered, when the Sub Committee will have before them all necessary information to be able to make an informed decision, including any material facts arising from the site visit.

Conduct of visits

a)    the visit will be conducted in a formal manner.

b)    the chairperson will open the visit and remind members of its purpose and conduct.

c)     Officers for the Applicant Responsible Authority and/or the Premises Licence Holder or their Agent will highlight issues relevant to site inspection and clarify issues raised by the Sub Committee.

d)    the chairperson will close the visit.

General matters

(a) No decision will be made concerning the application on site.

(b) no hospitality will be accepted

(c) a note of the questions raised and responses provided on the site visit will be published before the recommenced hearing.

REASONS

The Sub-Committee has taken into account the submissions from all those in attendance at the hearing. The Sub Committee noted that all those in attendance agreed that a site visit would be appropriate but that the views of those in attendance differed as to when the visit should take place. The Sub Committee determined that an understanding of the setting and surroundings of the premises are fundamental to the determination of the application and the conditions being considered, and cannot reasonably be made without visiting the site in question and the site visit should take place before the evidence as this would provide a clearer context for the Sub-Committee when hearing the evidence in the application.