(i)

considered the report from the Director for Place;

(ii)

(iii)

heard representations from Environmental Health and Devon & Cornwall Police as detailed below under the relevant licensing objective;

heard representations from the applicant that:

• They already have safety precautions and noise containment in the outside area;
• There is a capacity of 30 people in the outside area and this will not change;
• All drinks must be in polycarbonate glasses;
• A door supervisor is permanently stationed in the area controlling capacity and noise levels;
• Music is turned off at 11pm;
• There is a high fence surrounding the garden to separate the area from passers by;
• A smoking shelter covers half the area and aids in containing the sound;
• CCTV covers the entire area and the monitor is visible from the bar;
• Other premises in the area permit drinkers in their outside area until later at night and with higher capacities;
• They provided two photos of the outside area and a summary of the other licensed premises within the area and their allowances for outside drinking;

(iv)

considered representations under the licensing objectives as follows:

a)

Prevention of Public Nuisance –

A representative of Environmental Health said the premise is located in a cumulative impact area and there is potential for the application to impact negatively on the surrounding area.

There are a large number of licensed premises in North Hill and surrounding areas which predominantly focus on the student market.  This attracts high volumes of people to the area until the early hours of the morning with the effect of increasing the general noise from people that are under the influence of alcohol, such as shouting and swearing and causing incidences of anti-social behaviour.

They said there is the potential for persons to be encouraged to stay outside the premises for longer and the limit of 30 persons is likely to be achieved for longer periods of time and the potential noise issues could increase.

They say it is highly unlikely the smoking shelter will mitigate any noise breakout from the premises and the applicant has not provided any details.

b)

Prevention of Crime and Disorder –

A representative of Devon & Cornwall Police presented evidence to show an increase in crime levels within the cumulative impact area.  The evidence showed that the majority of crime in this area including the increase occurs between 10pm and 6am and cannot be attributed to individual premises.

Statistics were provided by the Police of the recorded offences between 01.05.12 to 31.10.12 and 01.05.11 to 31.10.11.

They conclude that this research shows there has been an overall increase in violence in the Mutley/Greenbank area from 332 violent offences recorded for the 2011 period to 353 violent offences recorded for the 2012 period.  There has been an increase in the amount of offences that the evening and night time economy (ENTE) violence accounts for the 2012 period.

There has been an increase in the amount of ENTE violent offences  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

(i)

considered the report from the Director for Place;

(ii)

heard from the applicant’s representative –

·         requesting that the condition of at least 2 licensed door supervisors be on duty at all times be amended to a ratio of 1 door supervisor to 30 customers;

·         that each performer had a contract of employment, a copy of which was tabled under part II for members’ consideration;

·         it would be preferable for performers to be able to leave the performance area and immediately return to the dressing rooms rather than the officer’s suggested condition that performers must redress fully after each performance;

(iii)

considered representations from the police  –

·         age verification – proposed that Challenge 25 should be adopted as the Police have found where other establishments have moved to Challenge 25 there have been a decrease in incidents;

·         confirmed that the remaining representations regarding proposed conditions are contained in the written representation attached to the report;

·         confirmed that the Police generally had no problems with this application;

(iv)

heard from the Plymouth Children’s Safeguarding Board Lead Officer –

·         there is statutory guidance for the Council and part of that is raising awareness in the private sector.  There have been a number of high profile cases across the country relating to child sexual exploitation and there is a need to raise the profile and be proactive by raising awareness;

·         there were no concerns about this application it was recommended that training should form part of the conditions;

(v)

considered information within Members own knowledge as follows:

·         the premises are in a locality which is wholly given over to entertainment which are open on Sundays, serving food and alcohol.  These premises will not stand out from anyone else around them during these trading times.

(1)

for the trading hours of Mon and Tue 9 pm to 11 pm, Wed to Sat 9pm to 4 am and Sun 9pm to 11 pm.  Given the premises location, members considered it reasonable to depart from the Council’s policy in agreeing Sunday trading hours;

(2)

subject to the conditions as set out in Appendix D of the report, subject to the  variations as set out by the Police in the report and also to the following additional condition –

·         door supervision – members require a condition “that not less than two registered door supervisors shall be on duty at the premises when performers are performing except that when there are no more than 30 customers at the premises then there shall be at least one registered door supervisor and at least one manager on duty.  The management shall have access to a Plymouth based security firm to increase the registered door supervisors to at least two in the event of customer numbers being above 30”.