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 Graham Wright as Chairman for this meeting only.

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

Apologies were received from:

·       Cllr George Jeans – substitute.

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 Premises Licence by Westbury Conservative Club in respect of Westbury Conservative Club, Alfred Street, Westbury, BA13 3DY.

Application by Tom Hunt (Secretary)of Westbury Conservative Club for a Variation to a Premises Club Certificate at Westbury Conservative Club, Alfred Street, Westbury, BA13 3DY.

The Committee asked for the following points of clarification before the Officer gave her presentation:

·       Mrs Russ and Mr Cunningham were in attendance as local residents, and not representing the Westbury Town Council, which they were both members of.

·       Westbury TC had withdrawn its representation and it did not form part of the information for consideration.

·       Mr Cunningham was asked by the Chairman whether he was expecting to speak, as he had not confirmed this ahead of the meeting with the Officers. He confirmed that he did not mind whether he spoke or not. The Chairman then confirmed that he would not allow him to speak.

In accordance with the procedure detailed in the agenda, the Applicant, the Responsible Authorities and those who had made a Relevant Representation were given the opportunity to address the Sub Committee.

The Licensing Officer, Carla Adkins introduced the purpose and scope of the application for a Variation to a Club Certificate, the premises to which it related and the key issues for consideration.

The premises had a Club Premises Certificate, which was a Members only arrangement.

The club already benefited from a Club Premises Certificate since it came in to effect on 24 November 2005.

There were other licensed premises’ in the vicinity, the permitted hours of licensable activity was detailed within the report.

During the consultation period, two relevant representations had been received. These were on the grounds of noise disturbance.

Westbury TC had initially submitted a representation, however after considering advice provided by the Licensing Authority, it was then withdrawn.

No Responsible Authority had made a representation in connection with the application.

It was noted that following a decision, the Club Premises Certificate holder, the Responsible Authority and those that had made representations could lodge an appeal with the Magistrates Court.

Key points raised by Tom Hunt of Westbury Conservative Club were:

·           The Club has a lot of sporting teams, like skittles, darts, crib, and pool.  These games can go on until quite late into the evening, so we applied for the variation to give some leeway to these teams, so that they could continue until the end of their game rather than return the next day.

·           The live music we have only usually takes place on Friday and Saturday. There were no plans to run live music in the evening on a Sunday, certainly not regularly. There were some occasions, when we did have music until 6pm on a Sunday, such as on St Patricks Day.

·           We have been in Westbury for 100 years now and work closely with our neighbours.

·           We are aware we are in a built up residential area.

·           We felt it was important for us to be here today for you to ask any questions.

Questions from the Committee:

·           There are a lot of pubs around you, which is the closest?  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.