Agenda and minutes

The panel is requested to elect a Chairman for the hearing in line with rules agreed by the Licensing and Safety Committee. 

Councillor Mrs Diane Chambers was elected as Chairman. 

To agree that the Chairman, after consultation with the other members of the panel, sign the record of this meeting outside the meeting. 

The Panel agreed that the Chairman sign the record of this meeting outside of the meeting.  

There were none. 

The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

There were none. 

(a)               Personal interests under the Medway Code of Conduct.

A Councillor who declares a personal interest in a matter, including the nature of the interest, may stay, speak, and vote on the matter.

(b)               Prejudicial interests under the Medway Code of Conduct.

A Councillor who declares a personal and prejudicial interest in a matter, including the nature of the interest, must withdraw from the room and take no part in the debate or vote on the matter.

Councillors who have declared a personal and prejudicial interest may make representations, answer questions and give evidence before leaving the room but only if members of the public are allowed to attend for the same purpose.

If an interest is not declared at the outset of the meeting, it should be disclosed as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

There were none. 

Discussion:

The panel heard an application for a review of the premises licence in respect of Amadeus, Chariot Way, Medway Valley Park.

The legal advisor asked the panel to note that the applicant had stated the name of the Premises Licence Holder to be ‘Aaron P Stone’. However the licence was held by ‘Aaron P Stone (Strood) Ltd’ and the application for the review should be amended accordingly to reflect accurately the name of the Premises Licence Holder. Page 2 of an e-mail from Ross Hutchins (following page 21 of the agenda) was circulated as it had not been included in the agenda.

The Business Development and Licensing Manager informed the panel that in accordance with Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003, the Council had received an application from Jill Hinde for a review of the existing premises licence in respect of the Amadeus nightclub. The Business Development and Licensing Manager stated that following the advertising of the review application, no further relevant representations have been received either from interested parties or the responsible authorities. The applicant had requested a review of the licence under the licensing objective of the prevention of public nuisance.

The applicant stated that the reasons for the review were as follows:-

·          every night the nightclub is open she could hear the bass notes clearly and this kept her awake

·          the applicant had started her objections in 2007 and finally reached this stage as nothing had changed this in time

·          the applicant had contacted Mr Uslu to ask if the bass notes could be turned down. This had happened for a short time but had since increased in volume again

·          the environmental health team had been monitoring the noise levels but they were not at a statutory nuisance level

·          the licensee had suggested that they would erect screens in 2009. Mrs Hinde had assumed that this work had been carried out but now it seemed that it was not

·          after the request for a review was submitted in November 2010, the next time the club opened the music could not be heard (except on two more recent occasions), so it was assumed that the volume had been turned down. Mrs Hinde asked for the volume to remain at this current level, as it was no longer causing a nuisance

·          the applicant stated that she would also be pleased if the offer of screens to be fitted to the front doors of the club was to go ahead as well.

Mr Thomas advised that the noise problem had been identified as cars in the car park surrounding McDonalds which was open until 5am. People drove to this location with ‘supersound’ radios and the noise heard by Mrs Hinde was from these cars and not the nightclub. 

Mrs Hinde responded that she had recorded all of the times when she heard the music and the noise always stopped when the club shut. She agreed that she did also hear car noises, revving engines and screeching of tyres  ...  view the full minutes text for item 680.

Discussion: 

The panel heard an application for an application for variation of the premises licence in respect of Stormforce Café/Bar, Medway Bridge Marina, Manor Lane, Rochester.

The application to vary the hours was to enable:

Live music – both indoor and outdoors

(outside music mostly in May to September)

Saturday                     to 24:00

Anything of a similar description of entertainment – both indoor and outdoors

(maybe comedy nights and race nights)

Saturday                     to 24:00

Supply of alcohol – both on and off the premises

Saturday                     to 24:00.       

However, the applicant had since agreed to amend this to include:

Regulated entertainment outdoors will be limited to 6 days per year, will cease at 23:00 and will not occur on more than 2 consecutive days.

              The Business Development and Licensing Manager advised that the application had been correctly advertised in the press and notices had been displayed on the premises.

The applicant stated that the reasons she wished to vary the existing hours was:

·        to formalise the six ‘Temporary Event Notice’ applications made during the year for outdoor events which were all accepted and used correctly

·        the events would only take place between May to September

·        this would allow the applicant to plot the five or six events throughout the summer without submitting an application each time. Also, if the weather changed, she could cancel an event and re-arrange it, whereas using a Temporary Event Notice restricted her to the specific date requested on that application

·        there had been no problems with the temporary extensions to the licence and events had all finished at the right time

·        at the time of application there had been a large and very loud firework party in the marina and many of the letters submitted as objections to this application were probably influenced by that event

·        100 people lived in the marina, which organised its own events and was nothing to do with the Stormforce Café/Bar, although by holding live music events she was responding to the requests of local people

·        she had not received any complaint prior to this application either in writing or in person and apologised that local residents were upset. However, she would like to find a way forward to everyone’s satisfaction.

The objectors stated:

·        that events held at the Stormforce Café/Bar had been a nuisance ever since the existing licence had been in place

·        it was totally inappropriate to hold music outside in this location where residential properties were in such close proximity to the premises and its outside garden area

·        the café/bar had previously been a small part of a Chandlery business but there was now a bar, outside decking, outside bar and now outside music

·        music played inside the premises could be heard by residents, so obviously music played out of doors was much worse and a total intrusion

·        that the rear gate to the premises slammed open and shut whilst patrons were leaving the premises late at night and asked if this could be left open

·        that on some  ...  view the full minutes text for item 681.