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

The Committee was made aware that a late representation had been submitted by the Women’s Equality Party, Manchester branch.

After seeking the views of all parties involved in the hearing and after taking legal advice the Committee decided to consider the representation when determining the Application.

The Committee was advised that there had been no objection received to the transfer of the SEV Licence and the Applicant pointed out that this was a renewal of an existing licence that had been in place for a number of years in the same location.

The applicant further stated that, save for the late representation, there had been no other objections to the renewal application.

The Applicant further stated that none of the mandatory and discretionary grounds had been engaged to prevent the renewal.

As regards the late representation the Applicant stated that the challenge to Sheffield Council’s decision to grant a licence was fundamentally concerned with challenging the City Council’s Sex Establishment Policy as opposed to the merits of an individual application. Whilst in this case due consideration had been given to Manchester’s Sex Establishment Policy when making the application.

A representative spoke on behalf of the Women’s Equality Party and confirmed that she wished to rely upon the contents of the representation that they had submitted.

The Committee was satisfied that the mandatory or discretionary grounds outlined in its own Sex Establishment Policy were not engaged and that it was appropriate to grant the renewal.

The Committee noted that there had been no objection to the transfer of the SEV licence and that the application was in respect of a premises that had been operating from the same location for a number of years.

It was satisfied that the granting of the application would not conflict with the City Council’s Policy and it was of the view that there had been no material change in the locality.

The character of the area was one of late night businesses, restaurants and bars and the premises were very much a part of the locality.

In respect of the objection, the Committee accepted that this was a renewal of an existing licence and therefore did not add to the numbers of existing SEVs currently in operation in the city centre.

It further noted section 3.12 of its own policy which provided that no weight should be given to an objection made on moral grounds whilst accepting that the objection was not ‘frivolous’ or ‘vexatious’.

Furthermore, the Committee was satisfied that the premises was a professional run business under the guidance of an experienced operator and one that had put sufficient safeguards and conditions in place to ensure that the premises did not breach the City Council’s Sex Establishment Policy.

In doing so the Committee was satisfied that granting the renewal of the licence would not breach the Council’s Public Sector Equality Duty.  

Decision

To grant the application.