Minutes:
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Nathan Reed, the Community Safety Neighbourhood Nuisance (CSNN) Officer, on behalf of the Borough Council presented the Responsible Authority’s case. He commented that he had had some concerns in relation to the extensive hours which were being requested.
The CSNN Officer explained that they had imposed a series of conditions including a noise management plan following some complaints relating to television noise and people in the garden last summer. He also confirmed that he would be happy to work with the Applicant on moving forward with that.
The CSNN Officer explained that people noise was difficult to deal with in venues such as this and stated that the Responsible Authority would need to have confidence in the management going forward that any changes would work. The CSNN Officer confirmed that the Borough Council’s CSNN Team could call for a review of the licence if noise management issues continued to arise and could exercise powers under statutory nuisance legislation.
The Senior Licensing Officer asked the CSNN Officer what confidence they had with the location of the pub and whether the noise management plan would be effective. The CSNN Officer stated that it would be quite difficult even for more experienced pub owners, therefore, he did have reservations and a lack of confidence with regards to the management.
In response to a further question from the Senior Licensing Officer, the CSNN Officer explained they could:
· Restrict the timings of certain outdoor events
· Condition the beer garden to close at specific times
There were no questions to the CSNN Officer from the Applicant or the Interested Parties.
In response to a question from Councillor Rust, the CSNN Officer explained they were not aware of any training courses which would be suitable for the Applicant to go on but reassured the Sub-Committee that if the Applicant was to adhere to a noise management plan, this would benefit them.
Councillor Rust asked the CSNN Officer how soon they could call for a review of the licence. The CSNN Officer outlined the process for a review of a licence.
In response to a question from Councillor Sandell, the CSNN Officer confirmed that the Council had received two complaints since the Applicant had been running The Buck Inn.
In response to a question raised by the Chair, the CSNN Officer explained the Responsible Authority would look to work informally in the first instance to remedy any non-compliance or noise disturbance complaints. The next step to take if that did not work would be to undertake a visit to somebody’s garden and look to witness and determine whether there was a statutory noise nuisance. If it was a statutory nuisance, he explained they would serve a notice on the pub requiring them to abate the nuisance within a certain timeframe. It was explained the length of time would all depend on what was causing the noise disturbance. If it was appropriate to review the licence, the CSNN Officer stated that this could take around a month and a half and the Responsible Authority could issue a Community Protection Warning depending on the type of complaint made but stated that could take up to six months.
The Sub-Committee adjourned for a comfort break at 11.18 am and reconvened at 11.31 am.