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

The Hearing Panel considered a report from the Directorof Planning, Building Control and Licensing regarding the above application.  The written papers and oral representations of the parties who attended were also considered, as well as the relevant legislation.

GMP addressed the Hearing Panel and stated that they objected to this Temporary Event Notice on the grounds of crime & disorder and public nuisance. It was explained that the TEN was for 2 concurrent daily events over the Bank Holiday weekend (26 and 27 August) for 60 people during the hours 23:00 to 06:00. The restaurant was very close to residential properties and it was considered that people allowed outdoors to smoke would create noise and disturbance to any nearby residents. This would subsequently lead to GMP involvement which was not a good use of resources. No security staff details or details on how numbers of attendees would be managed were within the application. GMP requested that the Hearing Panel refuse this TEN.

The Applicant addressed the Hearing Panel and stated that he was planning an end of summer private event for a small community of Brazilians across the North West. He stated he was happy to provide security staff and explained that he had been trading at the restaurant for the last 4 years. Current licensable hours at the restaurant were 09:00 to 00:00 and the premises had no previous issues or complaints. The weekend event was a one-off. The premises itself was next to a plot of land and the closest neighbouring residents were approximately 25 metres away. All buildings were solid brick so noise would be contained. Customers would not cause problems with parking and taxis. The Applicant had 2 previous TENs go ahead without issue or incident in June 2023 at the nearby car wash. In closing his statement, the Applicant stated that he was experienced and that the event would be well managed.

In responding to questions from the Hearing Panel, the Applicant stated that

• The premises were licensed until midnight
• Having a capacity of 60 people was a way of controlling the event
• It was a private event for friends and family
• It was for a small British-based Brazilian community to enjoy music, drinks and discussion
• The previous outdoor events required market rights at the nearby Car Wash where the owner is a friend
• These events had a footfall of over 1000 people and were successful
• The applicant was prepared for 03:00/04:00 to be the actual winding down time and numbers to potentially be a lower amount than 60 but wanted to keep within the law in case it did go on later, hence the 06:00 terminal hour
• The 2 events would draw a variety of people over the Bank Holiday weekend
• There was nothing else booked to take place specifically for this community
• 60 people would be on an invite list
• The invite list had not been compiled as the applicant wanted to know the outcome of the TEN application first
• No attendess were yet confirmed
• No smoking would be allowed inside and lots of city centre venues allowed people outside to smoke in the early hours
• Security staff would be useful but no-one would be allowed back inside if they went outside
• The applicant did not see that this would cause any problems as there had to be rules put in place
• Ashton Old Road was busy with lots of traffic so residents would be used to some background noise
• The area next to the car wash and premises was an empty plot of land, away from residents
• The applicant stated that he could not control how taxi drivers would behave when they were arriving and leaving with customers

In summing up their case, GMP stated that there were concerns over the lack of noise and disturbance mitigation and requested that the Hearing Panel serve a counter-notice to this TEN.

The applicant summed up by stating that he would be happy to curtail the event to a closing time of 04:00.

In their deliberations the Hearing Panel understood what the applicant was aiming to do and respected his efforts to support a community event for British-based Brazilians but felt that the operational conditions were not robust enough to uphold the licensing objectives.

Decision

To serve a counter-notice to the application.