Agenda and minutes

Councillor Mrs Diane Chambers was elected as Chairman for this meeting.

There were none. 

It was agreed that the Chairman, after consultation with the other members of the Panel, would sign the record of this meeting outside the meeting. 

There were none. 

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other interests

Councillors Bhutia and Carr declared an interest in agenda item 6 (Application to Vary a Premises Licence, Chatham Town Football Club, Maidstone Road Sports Ground, Maidstone Road, Chatham, ME4 6LR) because some of the residents opposing the application were known to them. 

Councillor Bhutia had stepped down from the Panel and he was substituted by the fourth member, Councillor Mrs Diane Chambers. Councillor Carr withdrew from the Panel for this item.

The applicant has applied for a variation to their existing Premises Licence in respect of Chatham Town Football Club, Maidstone Road Sports Ground, Maidstone Road, Chatham, ME4 6LR.  The variation is to increase the opening times; add licensable activities (both indoors and outdoors); extend the licence to cover the extended bar area and the whole ground surrounding the pitch (including the Directors box). All responsible authorities have been consulted in line with the Licensing Act 2003.

Representations have been received from members of the public and to date no agreements have been reached.

Discussion:

The Licensing and Local Land Charges Manager said that, in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003, the Council had received an application for a variation to the existing premises licence for Chatham Town Football Club to:

·         Increase the opening times;

·         Add licensable activities (both indoors and outdoors);

·         Extend the licence to cover the extended bar area and the whole ground surrounding the pitch (including the Directors box).

However, the applicant had subsequently amended the application so that it applied only to the clubhouse and to reduce the hours requested to no later than 24:00 hours. 

The Licensing and Local Land Charges Manager confirmed that the application had been correctly advertised in the local press and notices had been displayed at the premises for the required timescale.

The following documents were included in the agenda for the Panel’s consideration:

·         Appendix A - pages 9 to 20: A copy of the application submitted.

·         Appendix B - pages 21 and 22: A copy of the existing licence.

·         Appendix C - page 23: A location plan showing the approximate location of the application

·         Appendix D – pages 25 to 32: Copies of the representations received from members of the public.

The Licensing and Local Land Charges Manager said that, in accordance with section 9.14 of the Amended Guidance to the Licensing Act 2003, she had been in discussions with Council colleagues in the Planning Service and could confirm that there was no planning history currently available for this site.

She concluded that the application had been referred to the Licensing Hearing Panel for consideration and determination because relevant representations against the application had been received.

The Chairman invited the applicant to clarify the revised application to vary the premises licence and speak in favour of it. The applicant confirmed that the variations to the current premises licence that were now being applied for related to the clubhouse only and not the outside areas. In addition, no licensable activity was requested beyond 24:00 hours. Therefore, the request for late night refreshment (indoors), Thursday to Sunday, was reduced from 02:00 hours to 24:00 hours. All other parts of the application were unchanged except that they were now for indoors only.

In response to questions from the residents opposed to the application, the applicant said that the football club wished for extended licensable activities because it had ambitious plans to progress up the leagues, and there was a need for the club to generate increased income.  It was envisaged that this could, in part, be achieved through bookings for private parties and the additional hours and activities requested would help to achieve this. The applicant sought to reassure residents that it was unlikely there would be functions at the venue every weekend. She said that she would monitor all events and was always contactable by mobile phone should residents have concerns.  The applicant said that the club’s premises licence covered the whole week to enable events during bank holidays; otherwise the club would have to apply  ...  view the full minutes text for item 599.

In accordance with Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003, the Council has received an application from Kent Police, as a responsible authority, for a review of the existing premises licence in respect of Spice Fusion, Deanwood Drive, Gillingham, ME8 9LH. All responsible authorities have been consulted in line with the Licensing Act 2003.

Representations supporting the review have been received from the Home Office (Immigration Enforcement), who are a responsible authority under the Licensing Act 2003.  No further representations supporting the review have been received from members of the public or other responsible authorities.

Discussion:

Before the hearing commenced, the representative for Spice Fusion advised that the premises licence had been transferred to a third party, who was in the process of buying the business. It was envisaged that the sale would be completed in a matter of days. He therefore invited the Panel to consider not proceeding with the review of the licence.

The representatives of Kent Police confirmed that they would not object to the matter being deferred, pending the completion of the sale of the lease. Once the sale had been completed, Kent Police would consider whether it wished to withdraw its request for a review of the licence.

Decision:

The Panel agreed to defer consideration Kent Police’s application to review the premises licence for Spice Fusion, Deanwood Drive, Gillingham, ME8 9LH, pending the outcome of the sale of the business.

It is recommended that the panel exclude the press and public from the meeting during the decision-making process in respect of items 6 and 7, and also during consideration of the exempt appendices in respect of item 7, for the reasons set out in the report.

Decision:

The press and public were excluded from the meeting during the Panel’s deliberations and decision making in respect of agenda item 6, because consideration of this matter in public would disclosure information falling within paragraph 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, as specified in agenda item 8 (Exclusion of the Press and Public) and, in all the circumstances of the case, the Panel considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.