Agenda and minutes

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

Proposed by Cllr Andrews, seconded by Cllr Cocking.

Decision: that Cllr Emma Parker be elected Chairman of the meeting.

To receive any declarations of interest.

Cllr Cocking declared that she had previously served with Mr Glen Chadwick as a Councillor on Portland Town Council about 5 years ago for approximately 6 months, she did not however socialise with him. 

Cllr Parker declared that she had attended all the Dorchester town pubs with the Licensing team when they re-opened on 4 July 2020.

The Licensing Team Leader introduced the report for a review of the premises licence for Hardy’s, 11 Trinity Street, Dorchester, DT1 1TU under section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003 on the grounds of public nuisance. The application has been out to public consultation and had attracted a number of representations which had been published on the website and circulated to the panel members.

Following a discussion between the Licensing Team Leader and the solicitor for Punch Taverns prior to the meeting an offer was made to add some extra control measures to the rather inadequate and unenforceable condition relating to noise currently in the licence. So that:-

No noise in the form of live or recorded music shall emanate from the premises nor vibration be transmitted through the structure of the premises

Would be amended to:-

No noise in the form of live or recorded music shall emanate from the premises nor vibration be transmitted through the structure of the premises which, when assessed by the DPS/ manager of the premises, would be likely to give rise to a public nuisance. A documented check will be undertaken at the beginning of any live music provided within the premises. The check will be undertaken outside the rear of the premises at the nearest point to residential property to ascertain that the volume is such that it is unlikely to cause a public nuisance. The check shall be recorded in a logbook and made available for officers from the responsible authorities on request.

The Chairman then confirmed that the panel members had received and read all the reports and the attendees were invited to set out their positions and the applicant and the licence holder were given the opportunity to ask questions of each other. 

The applicant confirmed that there were issues with music from Hardys, but the main the problems arose from patrons leaving the pub at closing time when they tended to congregate in the street, smoking and socialising outside her residential property.   This was mainly since the re-opening on 4 July, after the Covid shutdown.  There was now an entry door to the pub and an exit door, the latter was the door closest to her building.  She said that the music could be very loud ending at approximately midnight to half past.  There were typically 20-30 people congregating and being noisy after closing time at around 0215 hrs to 0300 hrs and on occasion until 0345 hrs.  She had to close the windows to her property during the hot summers months to stop smoke coming inside.

The Solicitor for Punch Taverns addressed the meeting stating that they did not want to be responsible for neighbour disturbance but there was no history of noise, nuisance, crime or disorder prior to 4 July 2020.  The company wanted to work with residents and officers to find solutions to any problems and had already acted quickly in response to the issues raised. The recently appointed landlord had been in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

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.