Agenda item

To consider the report of the Service Lead - Environmental Health & Community Safety.

The Chair introduced the Members of the Sub-Committee together with the Legal Advisor, the Apprentice Solicitor, the Principal Licensing Officer and the Democratic Services Officer. The Legal Advisor set out the hearing procedure and all parties in attendance, agreed that the procedure was understood. He referred to additional documentation provided by both the applicant and the solicitor for one of the respondents. All parties had agreed for the additional documentaion to be included at the hearing.

The Licensing Officer presented the application which sought a variation of an existing premises licence in respect of Sandy Park Stadium, Exeter, which sought to:-

·         remove unenforceable and unclear conditions on the existing licence and to replace them with enforceable and clear conditions as set out in the Operating Schedule of the Application; and

·         to add the following licensable activities: Plays, Boxing and Wrestling, Films, Live Music and Recorded Music. All outdoors Monday to Sunday 10:00 - 23:00.

The application included additional plans to clarify the area within which licensable activities could take place and the boundary and the Applicant had included additional conditions in the Operating Schedule of the application to promote the Licensing Objectives. The application had been advertised on the premises from 14 December 2022 for 28 days and in the local newspaper on 22 December 2022 as required by legislation.

There have been 14 representations received from local residents and one from Environmental Health objecting to the application to vary the existing premises licence, which related the following Licensing Objectives:-

• the Prevention of Public Nuisance;
• the Prevention of Crime and Disorder;
• Public Safety; and
• the Protection of Children from Harm.

Two representations had been withdrawn, one accepting that events would not go beyond 23:00 hours and the other being content with the Noise Management Plan. 

There were no other representations from any other responsible authority that had been received.

The Applicant was in attendance and spoke in support of their application and responded to questions from Members, the Legal Advisor and the respondents. Four respondents, including Councillor Holland, who had made representations, were also in attendance to speak on the matter and responded to questions from Members and the Legal Advisor.

All parties were advised that a decision notice would be issued within five working days of the hearing. The Legal Advisor stated that the parties had a right of appeal against the decision notice to the Magistrates Court within 21 days of being notified of the decision.

The meeting was closed so that the Members could determine the application.

RESOLVED that the application to vary the licence was agreed for the reasons set out in the formal decision notice attached.