(a)

considered the report from the Director for Public Health;

(b)

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

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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;

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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);

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

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

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music could be heard inside even with the windows shut;

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the noise was described as invasive;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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;

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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 played at a level where normal conversations could be heard, in order to comply with Covid-19 guidance issued by Government;

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a police officer had visited the premises on 8 August 2020 at 7pm; he reported that loud music was being played and expletives could be heard over the microphone from the person providing the entertainment; the officer’s statement confirmed that this would have been able to be herd by passers-by and in the homes of neighbouring properties; the officer did report that social distancing was being followed by patrons; this written statement was taken into account by the committee;

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discussions had taken place with the Premises Licence Holder (PLH) and the following had been agreed, as a way of addressing the problems that had been experienced -

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removal of the application of S.177A Licensing Act, 2003;

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no regulated entertainment be permitted outside of the premises; this included any outdoor seating, beer garden, car park or temporary structures;

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regulated entertainment be permitted inside the premises only;

(c)

considered the representations submitted by local residents summarised as follows -

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residents had been able to hear every word of announcements from the premises PA system (one from a distance of 0.25 miles away); the DJ could be heard laughing, screaming and shouting into the microphone; the volume was reported to be ridiculously loud and showed little consideration for surrounding residents; the noise had been so loud that residents had struggled to talk to each other, whilst in their gardens and had not been able to escape the noise when going inside, even with the double glazed windows closed; the uncertainty of when and if the problem occurred again caused high levels of stress; one representation exhibited snapshots of Facebook comments about the noise; these Facebook snapshots were not taken into account by the committee in reaching their decision because they were not official complaints to the Council and neither were they representations in their own right; the people who had written these comments had not done so in the knowledge that they would be considered in anyway;

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a representation was received from a performer in support of the premises stating that the venue was a promising premises for music and that nationally known artists were playing at the venue; they stated that the premises was a family venue and that some people had attended because they had heard the music; they said that no complaints had been received from people at the venue at that time, even those sitting close to the PA system; they said there had been no need for anyone to raise their voice above the level of the music; they further stated that there would be no need for any more outdoor gigs, as staff had coherent plans for all seated, socially distanced gigs and therefore the conditions seemed to be appropriate; the premises was Covid secure;

(d)

considered the representations submitted by PLH and DPS, as follows -

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the venue had held three outdoor entertainment events on 11 July, 19 July and 8 August 2020;

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once the licence holders became aware of the issues on 10 August 2020, they gave strict instructions to the DPS that no further outdoor events were to take place; these instructions had been followed by the DPS;

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since the Covid-19 restrictions on indoor regulated entertainment were lifted, there had been no reported complaints regarding excessive noise or nuisance;

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the premises licence holders had engaged with Environmental Health and offered to accept the conditions mentioned by Environmental Health;

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the licence holders had prepared and submitted a noise management plan for the venue, to Environmental Health;

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the licence holders accepted that the conditions put forward would prevent a recurrence of events that gave rise to the complaints and accepted that the addition of these conditions to the licence was a reasonable course of action for the committee to adopt;

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they apologised that the events had led to the complaints;

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the DPS was concerned that a local Councillor had allegedly been encouraging complaints about the noise be made to the Council; this concern was noted by the committee but not taken into account when reaching its decision, as the committee had not been presented with any evidence to support this allegation;

(e)

considered the representations submitted by Environmental Health, other parties and the PLH detailed above (save where otherwise specified above) to be relevant under the Prevention of Public Nuisance Licensing Objective;

(f)

noted that the PLH had responded to the complaints in a responsible manner and had worked with Environmental Health to reach an acceptable conclusion;

(g)

was satisfied that, in light of the relevant representations received, the Prevention of Public Nuisance licensing objective was being undermined.

(1)

S.177A of the Licensing Act, 2003 does not apply to the licence;

(2)

in accordance with S.177A(4) of the Licensing Act, 2003 the following conditions are added to the licence -

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no regulated entertainment is permitted outside the premises; this included any outdoor seating, beer garden, car park or temporary structure;

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regulated entertainment is permitted inside the premises only.