Agenda and draft minutes

To elect a Chairman for the meeting and the Chairman to present and explain the procedure for the meeting.

Proposed by Cllr Louise Bown, seconded by Cllr David Shortell.

Decision: that Cllr Derek Beer be elected as Chair for the duration of the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

An apology for absence was received from Cllr Kate Wheller, substituted by Cllr Louise Bown.

To disclose any pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interests as set out in the adopted Code of Conduct. In making their disclosure councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action they propose to take as part of their declaration.

If required, further advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made at the meeting.

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

There were no urgent items.

An application has been made for a new premises licence at Blue Welly Events, field adjoining the side and rear carpark of Springhead public house carpark, Sutton Road, Sutton Poyntz, Weymouth, DT3 6LW.  The application has been advertised in accordance with regulations and has attracted relevant representations. A Licensing Sub Committee must consider the application and representations at a public hearing.

The Senior Licensing Officer introduced the report. She clarified that the Springhead pub was already licenced and that this was a new application by Blue Welly Events Limited for the field adjacent to the pub. Dorset Police had made a representation and requested that several conditions be added to any licence granted. The applicant was happy with these suggest conditions.

Mr Bown on behalf of the applicant informed the Sub-Committee that he had operated the pub for over a decade, with function and wedding events. Lots of pubs had been closing and they needed to be able to hold events to increase their income. He did not need to hold events every day or increase the number of events but required flexibility in order to hold weddings on any day of the week and wanted to have a bar in the field. He had held 2 ticketed events in the last 12 months and 8 to 12 weddings. In previous years there had been 15 to 16 weddings per year. He was confident that he could manage large groups of people and that rubbish was always cleared up after events.

In response to questions, Mr Bown responded that they had never had an incident in the past with emergency vehicles access. They had road marshals to direct traffic and provided off-road parking. They used professional sound engineers and equipment and measured decibel levels periodically. They were happy to provide a telephone number to residents to use in case of complaints and he had not received any complaints about glasses being thrown into gardens. Events would not be held every day and instead have around 12 weddings, 3-4 ticketed events and about 5 other non-ticketed events.

Ms Gatehouse from Dorset Police made the committee aware that she had suggested conditions to the premises which the applicant had accepted. They both agreed to a 11pm termination time for any licensable activities and a limit on the number of larger (ticketed) events per year. With no events to take place outside of the period from 1 March to 30 September. She added that a licence could be called in for a review if it was not being complied with.

Mr Crisp read out a statement on behalf of Ms Malone. She raised concerns about the number of events that could take place at the site if the licence was granted.

Ms Harwood read out a statement on behalf of Mr and Mrs Harmsworth. The statement raised concerns about the number of events increasing if the licence was to be granted and had witnessed a near miss accident during the bank holiday and highlighted the importance of public safety. Ms Harwood went on to read out her own statement which informed the committee that she had attended some events and recognised that there would be some noise and disruption. She did not want events to be held every day due to antisocial behaviour such as, fighting, urinating, and littering when customers exit the pub.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph 3 of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended). The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered.  

There are no exempt items scheduled for this meeting.  

There was no exempt business.