Agenda and minutes

Apologies were reported on behalf of Councillors Dudgeon, Magennis and Mullan.

            The minutes of the meeting of 16th December were taken as read and signed as correct.  It was reported that those minutes had been adopted by the Council at its meeting on 5th January, subject to the omission of those matters in respect of which the Council had delegated its powers to the Committee.

            No declarations of interest were reported.

            The Committee noted a list of licensing applications which had been granted under the Council’s Scheme of Delegation.

            The Head of Building Control informed the Members that an application had been received for the renewal and variation of a Seven-day Annual Indoor Entertainments Licence in respect of the above-mentioned premises, based upon the Council’s standard conditions to provide music, singing, dancing or any other entertainment of a like kind.

            In terms of the renewal application, he reminded the Committee that, under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1985, it must, in considering an application for the grant, renewal or transfer of an Entertainments Licence, have regard to any convictions of the applicant relating to an offence under the Order which had occurred within a five-year period immediately preceding the date on which the application had been made. With that in mind, he drew the Committee’s attention to the fact that the applicant company had, on 11th August, 2015, been convicted at the Belfast Magistrates Court of providing entertainment within the ground floor area of the premises, which was not covered under the current Entertainments Licence.  A fine of £150 and costs of £69 had been imposed. 

            He reported that the applicant had now sought to have the Entertainments Licence varied to include the ground floor area. Since the aforementioned offence had been detected, officers had met with the applicant to review the management procedures in place and were satisfied that all areas of the premises, including the ground floor, met the required licensing standards.  He added that no written representation had been received in relation to the application, the Police Service of Northern Ireland had offered no objection and the Council’s Environmental Protection Unit had, over the past year, received no complaints regarding noise in relation to the premises.

            The Committee agreed, in its capacity as Licensing Authority, to grant a renewal and variation of a Seven-day Annual Indoor Entertainments Licence in respect of The Spaniard, 3 Skipper Street, with entertainment being permitted, in future, to take place within the ground floor area. 

            The Committee was advised that an application had been received for the renewal and variation of a Seven-day Annual Indoor Entertainments Licence in respect of The National Grand Café Bar and Sixty6, based upon the Council’s standard conditions to provide music, singing, dancing or any other entertainment of a like kind. The Head of Building Control reported that entertainment, in the form of a DJ or live band, was provided currently from Monday to Saturday till 1.00 a.m. and on a Sunday till midnight.  The applicant was now seeking to operate the first, second and third floors of the venue till 3.00 a.m. on a Friday and Saturday night, with a view to enabling patrons to avail of musical entertainment after other premises had closed. The ground floor would, however, continue to operate only till 1.00 a.m. on those nights.

            He reminded the Committee that it was normal practice for Entertainments Licences being renewed, which were not subject to objections, to be issued under the Council’s Scheme of Delegation.  However, in view of the fact that the applicant had applied also for a variation to extend the hours of entertainment beyond 1.00 a.m., both applications were being presented to the Committee for consideration.

            The Head of Building Control confirmed that no written representation had been received in relation to the applications and that the Police Service of Northern Ireland had not objected. He pointed out that officers of the Building Control Service had, during the past year, visited the premises on three occasions whilst entertainment was being provided, none of which had detected breaches of the Entertainments Licensing legislation. However, the Council’s Environmental Protection Unit had, over the same period, received three complaints regarding noise breakout from the premises, which had been brought to the attention of management and resolved.

            The Committee agreed, in its capacity as Licensing Authority, to grant a renewal and variation of a Seven-day Annual Indoor Entertainments Licence in respect of The National Grand Café Bar and Sixty6, with entertainment being permitted, in future, to take place till 3.00 a.m. on a Friday and Saturday night on the first, second and third floors.

            The Committee noted that a report would be submitted to a future meeting in relation to a recent newspaper article which had provided details of breaches of the liquor licensing legislation and other offences in licensed premises across Northern Ireland, including Belfast.

            The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 16th December, it had agreed to defer consideration of the above-mentioned application, which had been submitted by Mrs. C. Hughes, until such time as the outcome of any legal proceedings being undertaken by the Council in relation to public safety issues at the premises had been determined and she had had the opportunity to consider fully the Council’s response to Subject Access Requests which had been lodged by her and two family members. 

            The Head of Building Control reported that, since that meeting, all three Subject Access Requests had been withdrawn and the applicant had written to the Council requesting permission to address the Committee on its decision to defer her application. In terms of the legal proceedings, it was pointed out that summonses had now been issued and the matter was due to be heard on 9th February.

            The Chairperson informed the Committee that it was required to decide firstly if it wished to hear from the applicant and, if so, if it wished to consider her application in full at this meeting.  

            After discussion, the Committee agreed to accede to the request and, accordingly, Mrs. C. Hughes and Mr. E. Hughes, her husband, were welcomed by the Chairperson.

            Mr. Hughes explained that the Committee’s decision of 16th December to defer his wife’s application had led to the cancellation of over five hundred bookings and had placed significant financial pressure upon the business. He pointed out that Beckett’s Bar sponsored five local football clubs and a boxing club, all of which used the venue free of charge each month for fundraising activities and had suffered in the absence of an Entertainments Licence. He highlighted the fact that other premises had been licensed by the Committee, despite having been convicted of offences on a number of occasions, and that the outcome of the legal proceedings would not affect the applicant’s ability to manage the business. He concluded by stating that the Entertainments Licence was central to the continued operation of the business and requested the Committee to grant the application.

            It was

            Moved by Councillor Armitage,

            Seconded by Councillor Bunting and

      Resolved - That the Committee, in its capacity as Licensing Authority, agrees to affirm its decision of 16th December to defer consideration of the application for Beckett’s Bar until such time as the outcome of the legal proceedings being undertaken by the Council had been determined.

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

“1.0       Purpose of Report/Summary of Main Issues

1.1       To consider an application for the grant of a Seven-day Annual Indoor Entertainments Licence for the Hole in the Wall, based upon the Council’s standard conditions to provide music, singing, dancing or any other entertainment of a like kind. 

1.2       Members are reminded that, at the meeting on 16th December 2015, you agreed to consider the application at your January meeting, to which the objector and the applicant would be invited to attend.

Premises and Location      Ref. No.                Applicant

Hole in the Wall                  WK/2015/01058    Gerard Conn

1-3 Baltic Avenue,                                            H.I.T.W. Limited

Belfast                                                               1-3 Baltic Avenue

BT15 2HR                                                          Belfast

1.3       Members should be aware that an initial application was received on 5th May, 2015 from Mr. Conn, H.I.T.W. Limited. However, that application was not completed and Mr. Conn subsequently resubmitted a further application on 28th August, 2015.

1.4       A petition of objections was received on 9th September from local residents regarding the application within the 28-day statutory consultation period.

1.5       The reason the application has not been brought before you for consideration until now is that Officers of the Service have attempted to engage with all parties affected by the application to convene liaison meetings and address the issues. However this has proved to be difficult as the objectors do not want to meet with the applicant.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       Taking into account the information presented and representations received in respect of the application you are required to make a decision to either:

1.     approve the application for the grant of the Seven-day Annual Entertainments Licence, or

2.     approve the application for the grant with special conditions, or

3.   refuse the application for the grant of the Seven-day Annual Entertainments Licence.

2.2       If the application is refused, or special conditions are attached to the licence to which the applicant does not consent, then the applicant may appeal the Council’s decision within 21 days of notification of that decision to the Recorders Court.

3.0       Main report

            Key Issues

3.1       Under the terms of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) (NI) Order 1985, the Committee, when considering an application, must have regard to any representation which is received within the 28 day statutory period.

            Representations

3.2       Public notice of the application was duly placed and a total of 13 signatures in the form of a petition were received. The signatures are all from residents of Baltic Avenue. Members should note that whilst the nature of some of the representations relate to music noise from the premises, Officers of the Service have monitored the premises and observed that it is not music that would require an Entertainments Licence.

3.3       The general nature of the objections referred to in the petition relate to the following:

·        the premises are located in a residential street and the owner of the premises shows no regard for their neighbours;

·        loud music can be heard in the street and inside resident homes at weekends;

·        the noise  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

            The Committee agreed that a letter be forwarded to the Minister for the Environment, Mark H. Durkan MLA, requesting an update on the review being undertaken currently of the Entertainments Licensing legislation in Northern Ireland.