Agenda, decisions and minutes

To elect a Chairman for the meeting of the Sub Committee.

Nominations for a Chairman of the Licensing Sub-Committee were sought and it was:

Resolved:

To elect Councillor Trevor Carbin as Chairman for this meeting only.

Cllr Carbin in the Chair.

To receive any apologies for absence and to note any substitutions.

There were none.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

To consider and determine an Application for a Variation of a Sex Establishment Licence in respect of Erotica-belle, 105 Fisherton Street, Salisbury, SP2 7SP made by AF Southern Ltd.

Application by Mr J Spencer for the Variation to a Sex Establishment Licence in respect of Erotica-Belle, 105 Fisherton Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP2 7SP.

In accordance with the procedure detailed in the agenda, the Applicant was given the opportunity to address the Sub Committee.

The Licensing Officer, Hannah Hould, introduced the purpose and scope of the application, the premises to which it related and the key issues for consideration.

Under the terms of the Council’s Scheme of Delegation, any application to vary a Sex Establishment Licence must be made by Members and cannot be decided by an Officer.

Details of the variations applied for were included on page 8 of the agenda.

The application had been advertised by the applicant, and no representations had been received.

Key points raised by Mr J Spencer of AF Southern ltd, in respect of Erotica-belle, were:

·         He had been informed by the Licensing Manager, Linda Holland, at a previous meeting that she would be providing a statement, however it was noted that this had not been received.

·         When he took over the business, he had applied for a variation to the conditions regarding window displays. He had understood those variations to have been approved, and that window displays were allowed, but later found out that those changes had not been added to the licence. He believed this was due to a clerical error.

·         As he had believed the licence to have been varied, he had put window displays at the premises. It was only when an unnamed Councillor had complained to the Licensing Officer that he had become aware that window displays were still not allowed and he was then asked to remove them. This was why he had applied for the variations to the licence again.

·         The applicant had won certificates in other counties for his window displays in the other sex establishments he owned in Andover, Weymouth and Bournemouth.

·         The applicant felt that his business was losing money at the Salisbury shop due to there being no window displays.

·         It was noted that other premises in Salisbury were able to display similar merchandise. Poundland and Boots both sold sexual health care products with no restrictions. In Anne Summers over 40% of their stock was sex toys, so he considered that they should be licensed. But when queried, the applicant had been told that they were too big a company to take to court.

·         He was not asking to put sex items in the window. He would like to put advertisements for products, items of lingerie and pills and potions in the window.

·         In September 2016, the applicant had been asked to support the local LGB Pride event. He had been asked to display a poster in the shop window. After this, the local Christian group had started to complain about the shop. The staff at the shop had been abused by several of the ladies from the Church group, who lived locally.

·         The shops takings were down £66,000 from not having displays  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.