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  Les fry, seconded by Cllr Jon Andrews

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

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Sarah Williams and Paul Harrison, substituted by Cllrs Les Fry and Jon Andrews.

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 are no urgent items.

An application has been made to review the premises licence for the bar currently known as Rocky’s in Queen Street, Gillingham. The application has been out to public consultation 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. Which was a hearing to consider an application brought by the current ward member in Gillingham on behalf of the residents. When the review was made, the licence was held by the Carter Group but during the course of the review the licence was transferred to Scott Rock. Mr Rock had been running the premises for a number of years. There had been complaints from residents to licensing on and off for a number of years some being noise related. Residents were then asked to contact Environmental Protection (EP) and the review application form had been offered but nothing had come in until now. It was confirmed that the licence had been a 24-hour licence since 2006.

Cllr Rideout informed the Sub-Committee that she had been contacted by the residents of Queen Street. As the residents had been impacted by issues such as, antisocial behaviour shouting, vomiting, and urinating on a regular basis and security was the main concern. Rocky’s bar was located on a quiet residential street, a bar/restaurant had always been there and was the only premises that opened late night hours.  The residents did not want the bar to be closed and recognised that it was an important venue which gave young people a place to socialise. She covered the history of the bar and added that communication had broken down with residents. Since 2021, there had been an escalation of antisocial behaviour and residents had logged numerous incidents with EP and the Police. She went through various incidences that had taken place in 2023 and 2024 which related to drunk customers coming out of the Premises and being violent and disorderly in the street immediately in front of the Premises.

Cllr Rideout explained that customers spilled out onto Queen Street to drink and smoke from late evening into the early hours of the morning, residents had witnessed loud, abusive, and violent behaviour with the Police being called on several occasions. Residents had witnessed the front entrance to the Premises being left unattended by security staff during a violent incident on the street outside the Premises. She concluded that residents needed security to be improved and stricter conditions to ensure that customer behaviour was monitored and addressed. She wanted the Sub-Committee to reconsider the hours during which permitted activities took place, the security arrangements and reducing the noise. She added that it was an untenable situation which had led to intimidation, anxiety, and isolation of residents in their own homes.

Cllr Rideout responded to questions from the Sub-Committee. She informed that a closing time of 2 am on the weekend would be suitable and two door supervisors were needed on the front entrance to the premises at the weekend and one at the door to the rear of the garden, which would shut by 10 pm and after would be used as a smoking area with strict controls on numbers of people.

The Sub-Committee heard from Ms Collins who had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 221.

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.