Agenda item

An application has been made for a new premises licence. The application has been out to public consultation and has attracted relevant representations. A Licensing Sub-Committee must therefore consider the application and representations at a public hearing. 

The Licensing Team Leader introduced the report for a new premises licence for the External Area outside of Rendezvous, 49 St Thomas Street, Weymouth and gave a detailed history of the premises.

Following a variation to the licence in 2015, outside events became more established and attracted a larger audience.   Due to the pandemic only two events were held last year, one in June for the Football and one for the August Bank Holiday, a further event was scheduled for New Year but cancelled due to the Omicron variant.  

The Licensing Team Leader advised that it was very unusual to have two very different operations covered by one licence, and Officers of Dorset Council had suggested that it would probably be more appropriate to have two separate licences so that appropriate conditions could be applied to the outside area for the events. This was not a new licence but a separation of one licence into two and there had been no objections from the Police or Town Council.

A statement responding to the concerns from the objectors was contained in the supplementary information supplied on-line.

The sub-committee were invited to ask questions of the Licensing Team Leader.

There were no questions from the applicant or the objector.

The Solicitor for the Applicant was given the opportunity to put forward the case on behalf of Stonegate Ltd.  He wanted to point out that there would only be the occasional outside event, 10 days in total throughout the year, plus the days where the England Football Team played in the Euros and World Cup football matches which fell on a Saturday or Sunday during the times applied for.  Except for the addition of New Year’s Eve, the application was not an increase in the number of events currently permitted in the external area.  The Safety Advisory Group would be engaged with any events held.  He gave updates on some of the issued raised regarding a secondary location for boats, fencing and the presence of dedicated marshalls.

The sub-committee, followed by the Licensing Team Leader, the Environmental Protection Team Leader and the objector were invited to ask questions of the Solicitor.

The Environmental Protection Team Leader had nothing further to add and there were no questions for her.

The Objector was invited to put his case forward.  His concerns were for the living and working amenity of the area and he objected on a strategic level. 

The sub-committee, followed by those in attendance were invited to ask questions of the Objector.

All parties were given the opportunity to sum up their cases, prior to the sub-committee retiring to make their decision.