(i)

considered the report from the Director for Community Services;

(ii)

considered the written representation from interested parties and noted that in response to the notice of hearing the interested parties indicated that the application to extend opening hours indoors was not an issue; they only wanted to object to the applications relating to the outdoor elements of the application; a petition was received signed by 18 people. This was treated as one representation;

(iii)

heard that Environmental Health had withdrawn their representations following agreement of conditions with the applicant;

(v)

heard from the applicant that:

·        

he had received various complaints from one particular resident in relation to noise from bins, doors slamming and he had taken action to address those concerns;

·        

the premises, under its previous name, had allegedly caused problems for residents;

·        

none of the residents had ever come into the restaurant to complain;

·        

the applicant considered himself to be a very good restaurateur with many years experience. He considered he had good clientele. He mainly served wine with food to stop drinkers just coming in, it is tables only;

·        

the application had been made so that he can get into the wedding reception market and also for occasions such as Christmas;

·        

he does a lot of charity events for the community without any complaints with the few late licences he has had;

·        

the application to vary to licence  had received no objections from the Police;

·        

he had a set of house rules which were presented to the committee;

·        

he had a petition signed by approximately 48 people; the  Committee noted that there were no addresses on the petition (which was headed up as a music petition) and so were unable to put any weight on it as they were not able to say whether these people came within the vicinity of the premises;

·        

he had signed and agreed to the conditions put forward by Environmental Health detailed below being included within his operating schedule:

1

Where regulated entertainment is held inside the premises, doors and windows will be kept shut at all times

2

Live and recorded music outdoors will only  be permitted when a function has been pre booked and a substantial meal is provided as part of that function

3

All regulated entertainment will last no more that three hours duration, inclusive of any breaks

4

No more that 12 performances of regulated entertainment outdoors shall be permitted in any calendar month

5

A member of staff will be nominated to deal with noise complaints and will respond to local residents concerns if issues are raised, as well as any reasonable request made by an Officer of a Responsible Authority.

6

Music noise should not be excessive/unreasonable at any time, responsible member of staff should take action to control music noise if found to be excessive/unreasonable.

7

A senior member of staff (manager) will assess the impact of any noisy activities on neighbouring residential premises at the start of the activity/entertainment and periodically throughout the activity/entertainment.

8

A diary of entertainment will be maintained at the premises and will be made available for inspection at the request of any representative of a Responsible Authority. Details of entertainment events must be documented within this diary and should include: Name, date and times of pre-booked performance, if any complaints have been received, if any action was taken to control music noise and the time at which regulated entertainment ceased.

(vi)

considered representations under the licensing objectives as follows:

a)

Prevention of Public Nuisance –

·        

the granting of the licence in relation to outdoor activities would prevent sleep and mean residents wouldn’t be able to have their windows open in the summer months. Residents felt they should be able to get to sleep at a reasonable time both during the week and at week ends. Information was provided that during temporary events notices had been used recently to enable music to be played outdoors (including some events where music took place but was not authorised under the TEN). These events caused noise and disturbance on a number of occasions. On these occasions the interested party closed their double glazed windows but this was not sufficient to prevent the singing/music being audible and causing a disturbance. This was considered to be relevant and members felt that the conditions agreed with Environmental Health would go some way to address the concerns of the residents but members still felt that the issue  raised by interested parties of being able to get to sleep at a reasonable time needed addressing.  Members did not consider that this could be addressed by conditions but could only be addressed by adjusting the finishing time of the regulated entertainment relating to live music, recorded music, provision of facilities for making music, provision of facilities for dancing (and anything of a similar description) taking place outdoors. 

b)

Prevention of Crime and Disorder –

·        

there were no representations;

c)

Protection of Children from Harm –

·        

there were no representations;

d)

Public Safety –

·        

there were no representations;

e)

Other representations –

·        

because the restaurant was not a club and was situated in a residential area, music late into the night/early hours of the morning should be confined to the inside of the premises; this was not considered to be relevant as it did not relate to the licensing objectives;

·        

the application had not been advertised correctly; the licensing officer confirmed the requirements of the legislation had been complied with.