Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council House, Plymouth

Contact: Democratic Support  Email: democratic.support@plymouth.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

10.

Appointment of Chair and Vice-Chair

The Committee will appoint a Chair and Vice-Chair for this particular meeting.

Minutes:

The Committee agreed to appoint Councillor Rennie as Chair and Councillor Hendy as Vice Chair for this particular meeting.

11.

Declarations of Interest

Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made by Members, in accordance with the code of conduct.

12.

Chair's Urgent Business

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

Minutes:

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

13.

Review of Premises Licence: Royal Oak, Lake Road, Plymouth pdf icon PDF 3 MB

The Director for Public Health will submit a report in respect of Royal Oak, Lake Drive, Plymouth for the review of premises licence, under Section 53A of the Licensing Act 2003.

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee –

 

(a)

considered the report from the Director for Public Health;

 

 

(b)

heard and considered the written and verbal representation from Environmental Health;

 

 

 

?

the representation set out that complaints of noise from live and recorded music had been received from local residents, in respect of the premises; the representation also detailed the warnings that had been given to the premises before any action had been taken; these warnings related Covid-19 guidance for pubs and also regarding levels of noise coming from the property in August 2020, once the lock down restrictions had been lifted;

 

 

 

 

 

?

the statement of Rachael Hind, the Council’s Licensing Manager detailed her visit to the premises on 8 August 2020; her view was that, whilst any music was to be played at a premises, the Covid-19 rules meant that it had to be outside, a balance needed to be struck and the music was being played too loudly; whilst she did not witness the noise levels inside any residential property, from what she did hear she formed an opinion that if an individual was in a nearby residential property the level of music would still have been able to be heard over a loud TV and residents would have been unlikely to be able to read a book without being disturbed by the music; this statement was taken into account by the committee when reaching its decision along with the statement of Marie Price;

 

 

 

 

?

ten complaints had been made to Environmental Health by local residents detailing that the music noise could be heard over the level of conversation taking place inside the residential property and that residents who had contacted the pub stated that they had been mocked publicly when asking for the music to be turned down and had been left feeling intimidated; these anonymised complaints were presented to committee and, whist they were hearsay, they were taken into account by the committee in reaching its decision, as these were official complaints made to the Council and submitted with a view to being considered to address the problems experienced; the committee noted the attitude of the PLH in dealing with the complaints, in that it appeared from the views expressed by some complainants that the landlord had not acknowledged his obligation under the Licensing Act;

 

 

 

 

?

one video was played which had been taken on 8 August 2020 by the Licensing Manager; the committee took this recording into account in reaching its decision, in that it gave a good indication of the level of music and the distance from the premises at which it could be heard;

 

 

 

 

?

that Mr Chambers had put forward conditions but the Environmental Health officer was of the opinion that they were not specific enough and would not address the issues complained of; those conditions were not put before the committee and so did not form part of its considerations;

 

 

 

(c)

heard and considered both written and verbal representations from local residents and ward councillor; as summarised below -

 

 

 

?

complaints of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

14.

Review of Premises Licence: Lockdown Inn, Southway Drive, Plymouth pdf icon PDF 1 MB

The Director for Public Health will submit a report in respect of Lockdown Inn, Southway Drive, Plymouth for the review of premises licence, under Section 53A of the Licensing Act 2003.

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The committee -

 

(a)

considered the report from the Director for Public Health;

 

 

(b)

considered the verbal and written representations submitted by the Environmental Health officer -

 

 

 

?

that the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) of the premises had made contact, upon the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, requesting guidance of the performance of live music; the DPS was given the advice that music could be played outside, with patrons being socially distanced and music at a volume where patrons were not required to raise their voices; the DPS was also advised to comply with the premises licence so that music should not disturb nearby residential properties; the DPS was referred him to the Government guidance for pubs and performing arts;

 

 

 

 

 

?

live music had taken place in the outside area of the premises on a number of occasions, since that advice was given Environmental Health had received an unprecedented number of complaints (47 complaints had been received);

 

 

 

 

?

anonymised copies of the complaints received were provided to the committee, in summary they stated that -

 

 

 

 

 

 

?

music could be heard in residents’ garden and inside their properties; music could be heard above the level of their televisions and radios;

 

 

 

 

 

 

?

music could be heard inside even with the windows shut;

 

 

 

 

 

 

?

the noise was described as invasive;

 

 

 

 

 

 

?

some residents could hear what was being said/sung word for word;

 

 

 

 

 

 

?

at times the music could be heard when trying to sleep and there was a report of a child struggling to get to sleep;

 

 

 

 

 

 

?

residents felt unable to sit in their gardens whilst the noise was ongoing;

 

 

 

 

 

 

?

residents struggled to have conversations in their own homes due to loud music from premises;

 

 

 

 

 

 

?

there were reports of the noise lasting four to five hours;

 

 

 

 

 

 

?

swearing and profanities could also be heard coming from the entertainment provided at the premises;

 

 

 

 

?

whilst these anonymised reports were hearsay, they were taken into account by the committee in reaching its decision, as these were official complaints submitted with a view to being considered to address the problems experienced;

 

 

 

?

an Environmental Health officer had visited the premises and conducted noise monitoring on 8 August 2020 between 4pm and 5pm; live and recorded music had been being played from a stage setup in the beer garden; videos of the volume of the music witnessed were provided and one was played to the committee; a map produced showed the locations of where the recordings were taken; this showed that music was clearly audible 85 and 185 metres away from the premises; during this visit the officer had spoken to the DPS but this had had to be conducted away from the premises, so they could be heard above the level of noise; the DPS had agreed to turn down the volume of music; when the officer had tried to speak to a security guard at the premises, the guard had had to come very close to the officer, to be able to hear what was being said, this breached social distancing guidelines; music should have been being  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.