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 Les Fry, seconded by Cllr Brian Heatley.

Decision: that Cllr Jon Andrews be appointed as chairman for the duration of the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Cathy Lugg and David Morgan, substituted by Cllrs Brian Heatley and Les Fry.

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 for Purbeck Plaza, for live and recorded music (New Years Eve only), late night refreshment, and the sale of alcohol, on and off the premises.  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 presented the report. She clarified that the application covered the inside of the Premises only.

The applicant, Mrs Harrison informed the Sub-Committee that the Purbeck Plaza was a building from the early 1800’s and had previously been a hotel and a pub for 200 years. It was located in the main Highstreet and had been closed for over 10 years as a pub. There had been a premises licence with the previous owners from 2010, which had licensing hours until 2 AM for every licensing activity and 24-hour opening times. The applicant lived in and wanted to holiday let the flats above. She added that it was in their own interest to reduce the noise and keep anti-social behaviour down.

Mrs Harrison wanted to operate a restaurant that offers late night dining as surrounding premises cease serving food by 8 pm. Any music in the venue after 11pm would only be background music, except for New Year’s Eve. She intended to have the windows and doors closed when music was being played to reduce the noise.  A gate had been installed to the entrance at the rear of the building plus sensor lighting and CCTV around the property. She was willing to have a condition on the licence that no commercial waste be disposed of outside of the Premises between 11pm and 7am, to address some of the concerns put forward and amend those hours to between 10pm and 8am if required. There would be an email/phone number available for people to use if they needed to make a complaint.

Mr Eatwell who also represented the other members of the public who had submitted representations raised concerns about crime and disorder, noise, and public nuisance.  He was concerned that noise could be caused by people leaving the premises and music heard outside the premises. He stated that noise was acceptable until 11 pm but not any later, as closing times were too late. He informed that off sales should stop 30 minutes before the permitted hours. Closing times should be 22:30 hours and 23:00 hours for Friday and Saturday with midnight for Carnival Week and Christmas Eve and 1:00 hours for New Year’s Eve. He informed that a 1 am closing time was not acceptable in a residential area and wanted to agree a balance between business and residents.

All parties were given the opportunity to have their say and sum up. 

Decision: To GRANT a Premises Licence with the usual mandatory conditions, the conditions consistent with the Operating Schedule, and the conditions requested by Dorset Police and imposed by the Sub-Committee as set out below, to permit the following:

Live Music (indoors)

New Year’s Eve      2300 – midnight

Recorded Music (indoors)

New Year’s Eve      2300 – 0200 hours

Late night refreshment

Friday and Saturday 2300-0100 hours

Swanage Carnival week 2300-0100 hours

New Years Eve 2300-0200 hours

Supply of alcohol (on and off the premises)

Sunday to Thursday 0800-2300 hours

Friday and Saturday 0800-0100 hours

Swanage  ...  view the full minutes text for item 140.

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.