Agenda and minutes

Councillor McLean was proposed, seconded and duly elected Chairman of the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Matthew Davies and from Mr Mark Salisbury.

To receive declarations of interest from Members including the terms(s) of the Grant of Dispensation (if any) by the Audit Board or Managing Director.

There were no declarations of interest received from sub - Committee Members nor from the Additional Member, Councillor Maddison. 

It was reported that there were no urgent items for the sub - Committee to consider.

The Chairman introduced Members present and called upon others present to identify themselves.  He then explained to the parties that the Sub-Committee intended to follow the procedure detailed in the revised Licensing Sub-Committee Rules of Procedure, which had been circulated as a replacement for item 5 to the agenda.

He also explained the role of the Additional Member who would not participate in the meeting unless a Member of the sub Committee were to withdraw due to a failure in the IT Equipment.

The Council’s Licensing Manager introduced her report and explained that Mrs Rickards (the Applicant) had applied for a variation of the Premises Licence, under section 34 of the Licensing Act 2003, for the Wig and Gown Public House, Spital Street, Dartford Kent, DA1, which is situated in Dartford Town Centre.

The following variations to the conditions of the current Premises Licence were proposed:

To delete the following conditions:

a.    When the premises are open on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays and Bank Holidays there will be no admission or re-admission after 00:00 hours.

b.    The rear garden shall not be used by patrons after 21:00 Sunday to Thursday, nor after 22:30 on Fridays, Saturdays, Bank Holidays or Christmas Eve.

c.    Bottles and other waste should not be removed from the premises and tipped into refuse and recycling bins between 21:00 and 08:00.  Kitchen waste may be emptied until 21:30. Waste and recycling bins utilised shall be lidded and large enough to hold all waste generated by the premises.

d.    When the premises are open between 20:00hrs till close on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays and Bank Holidays a minimum of 4 SIA door supervisors must be present at the customer entrance and exit of thepremises.

and

to add:

·         When the premises are open on Friday and Saturdays and Bank Holidays there will be no admission or re-admission after 01:45 hours.

·         The rear garden shall not be used by patrons after 00:00 Sunday to Saturday, Bank Holidays or Christmas Eve. The garden in now [sic] an enclosed area which will limit sound escaping.

·       Bottles and other waste should not be removed from the premises and tipped into refuse and recycling bins between 00:00 and 08:00.  Kitchen waste may be emptied until 00:30. Waste and recycling bins utilised shall be lidded and large enough to hold all waste generated by the premises.

·       When the premises are open between 20:00 hrs till close on Friday and Saturdays and Sundays prior to Bank Holidays a minimum of 3 SIA door supervisors must be present at the customer entrance and exit of thepremises.

It was noted that the consultation on the proposed variations had elicited objections from respectively, Kent Police and Dartford Borough Council’s Environmental Health as Responsible Authorities and from Councillor Rosanna Currans (Dartford Ward Councillor and Portfolio holder for High Street Revival and Town Centre), as an interested party.

The Chairman drew the written submissions made by the Applicant to the attention of the Sub Committee and asked the Applicant if she had anything further to add. 

The Applicant:

(a)   stressed that the pub was a family run establishment and that there had been no occasions where Police presence had been required;

(b)   wished to have the flexibility to choose the night on which to provide an indoor platform for live bands and musicians.  Outdoor music would be purely acoustic;

(c)   wished to reduce the number of SIA door supervisors from 4 to 3 - to reduce the risk of being overstaffed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.