The report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing is enclosed.

The Hearing Panel considered a report from the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing concerning a Temporary Event Notice. The Hearing Panel considered the written representations within the papers and the oral representations of the parties who attended the hearing, as well as the relevant legislation.

LOOH addressed the Hearing Panel and stated that they had monitored previous temporary events at this location and had measured loud bass breakout at the prior event from the hours of 00:05 and 00:30, noting that the building was vibrating due to excessive bass levels. This would have had a negative impact on neighbouring properties. The venue itself did not have a personal licensee and LOOH believed there was a high risk of breaching the licensing objectives if this TEN was not countered. Video footage of the noise breakout had been provided and the Hearing Panel and their Legal representative confirmed that they had seen this footage.

In response to questions, the LOOH officer stated that he himself was not present when the video footage was recorded and that the footage had been provided to the applicants.

The TEN applicants addressed the Hearing Panel and stated that they were grateful of the video footage provided to them and confirmed that they had put measures in place since this previous event. The Rastafarian Church was a large building and the applicants were in the process of renovating and adding double glazing which would mitigate noise breakout and vibration. There was additional soundproofing, monitoring and equipment (a sound limiter) to add further mitigation in this regard. The venue was working with the entertainers and the previous weekend’s event proved how this had worked well and how the venue was willing and able to be compliant with licensing objectives. Also, the applicants were now employing security throughout the events, working with the community and the community were willing to assist the venue in the satisfactory running of events. In closing, the applicants stated that they would be willing to scale back the requested hours from 04:00 in the application to 02:00.

The Legal advisor to the Hearing Panel stated that the Panel could not amend the TEN for the applicant but noted that the applicant could amend details themselves and asked if they were formally amending the terminal hour to 02:00.

The applicant confirmed that they wished to amend the terminal hour to 02:00.

In response to questions, the applicant stated that:

• All monitoring would be timed and documented
• That they would add this information in future TEN applications
• They had used a portable monitoring device and worked with entertainers to maintain a consistent sound level
• That they had ordered a professional, permanent sound limiter
• The application being considered today would now run from 00:00 to 02:00
• Sound monitoring had not yet been in consultation with acceptable levels according to the local authority but the applicant was willing to work to these requirements
• This had not been a consideration for previous events as they were unaware  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The report of the Head of Planning, Building Control and Licensing is enclosed.

The applicant’s legal representative addressed the Hearing Panel and requested an adjournment, owing to the previous legal representative having withdrawn their services in the previous week and returning the applicant’s fee. The legal representative confirmed that he had been instructed only on the previous Thursday and stated that he did not have the respondent’s evidence ready to submit and requested that the hearing be put back to another date. This information is important to his case and, in the interests of natural justice, would constitute a fair hearing. GMP had had 3 years to put their evidence together and the licence holder has not had the same opportunity. The legal representative stated that they would only require 5 days to review and submit this information.

GMP stated that they were not in favour of this request for a later hearing ,stating that the applicant has had ample time to prepare a response.

Trading Standards agreed with GMP’s statement and wished for the hearing to go ahead.

In their deliberations, the Hearing Panel considered all comments raised on whether the hearing should be delayed and determined that natural justice prevailed, in that the licence holder had been left in a difficult position with regards to having had a solicitor remove their services and the newly appointed representative having very little time to assist in preparing a case.

Decision

To defer the hearing to the next available hearing, providing that the licence holder and their legal representative submit their written case in good time.

The report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing is enclosed.

The Hearing Panel considered a report from the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing concerning an application for a Premises Licence Variation. The Hearing Panel considered the written representations within the papers and the oral representations of the parties who attended the hearing, as well as the relevant legislation.

The applicant’s agent addressed the Hearing Panel, stating that the applicant wished to vary their trading hours to sell alcohol and other goods. The current licence allowed trading up until 23:00 and the request was for trading up until 02:00 7 days a week. The agent stated that the submission from LOOH in the report pack referred to a lease holding matter from a previous licence holder in 2020 and requested that the Hearing Panel ignore this. The agent raised the issue of the exclusion zone in the Southern Gateway and the shaded area, noting that this had not been raised in GMP’s objections, therefore the agent asked the Hearing Panel not to consider the premises as being within any exclusion zone. Regarding similar provision in the area, there were two other licenced premises: Spar on Stretford Road, 75 metres away and trading up until 04:00 and Best One on Cavendish Street which had a 24 hour licence 7 days a week. Objections against the application had mentioned anti-social behaviour, yet this premises closed at 23:00 and no issues reported regarding the premises in regard to this or street drinking. This seemed like a generalisation on the area and not specific to the premises. Furthermore, the resident objectors were not present to question on these matters. Regarding parking, one of the applicants, Ms Kona, was a Blue Badge holder and licenced to park in the bay. The other applicant, Mr Nwigwe, used the parking bay for deliveries only.

Ms Kona, one of the applicants, addressed the Hearing Panel stating that they had been in ownership of the premises for 18 months and noted some issues with residents regarding their refrigeration units and the noise they created. The applicants had acted immediately and moved the associated condenser units to the rear yard.

GMP and LOOH did not put questions to the applicants and their agent.

In response to questions from Ward Councillor Glover, the applicants and their agent stated that:

• They did not block or impede pedestrians and wheelchair users when parking outside the premises
• If the application was granted today, they would ensure that there were suitable mitigation factors in place to stop nuisance parking by using signage
• There were also double yellow lines outside the premises to deter rogue parking
• They would ensure proper age checks, would not serve intoxicated customers and make sure the doors of the premises were secure
• Working with Councillors and the authorities was the applicants’ priority due to being in a student area and they would ask all customers to respect the neighbouring residents

In response to questions from the Hearing Panel, the applicants and their agent stated that:

• Intoxicated customers would not be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

The report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing is enclosed.

The report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing is enclosed.