Agenda and minutes

To elect the Chair of Licensing Panel E for the rest of 2022/23 Municipal Year.

The Principal Committee Officer opened the meeting and invited nominations for the election of Chair of the Licensing Panel.

RESOLVED –

THAT Councillor Meric Apak be elected Chair of the Panel for the 2022/23 municipal year.

To agree the procedure rules for remote hearings.

RESOLVED –

THAT the guidance on remote meetings be agreed.

There were no apologies.

There were no declarations of interest.

Broadcast of the meeting

The Chair to announce the following: “In addition to the rights by law that the public and press have to record this hearing, I would like to remind everyone that this hearing is being broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and can be viewed on our website for at least six months after the hearing. After that time, webcasts are archived and can be made available on upon request.

If you have asked to address the hearing, you are deemed to be consenting to being filmed and to the use of those images and sound recordings for webcasting and/or training purposes. If you are addressing the Panel your contribution will be recorded and broadcast.”

Broadcast of the Meeting

The Chair made the following announcement: “In addition to the rights by law that the public and press had to record this meeting, he would like to remind everyone that this meeting was being recorded and broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and could be viewed on the Council’s website for six months after the meeting. After that time, webcasts were archived and could be made available upon request.

If you had asked to address the meeting, you were deemed to be consenting to having your contributions recorded and broadcast, including video when switched on, and to the use of those sound recordings and images for webcasting and/or training purposes.”

Request to defer item 9 Elysee Restaurant, 13 Percy St

The Legal Officer informed the Panel that the applicant for this item had requested an adjournment.

The Panel resolved to adjourn this item and the Chair confirmed that it would not be considered at today’s hearing.

There was no such business.

To approve and sign the minutes of the hearing held on 15^th September 2022.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 15^th September 2022.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 15^th September 2022 be approved and signed as a correct record.

Report of the Executive Director, Supporting Communities.

This is an application for a new premises licence under section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003.

Consideration was given to a report of the Executive Director Supporting Communities detailing an application for a new premises licence under Section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003.

The Licensing Officer provided the Panel with a summary of the application advising that the premises was not situated within a cumulative impact area, and that following representations made by the police responsible authority the application had been amended to include conditions agreed with the police. The police had subsequently withdrawn their representation and the agreed conditions could be found on pages 98 and 99 of the agenda.

The licensing objectives engaged by the application were the prevention of public nuisance. The hours policy was also engaged by the application in relation to the proposed terminal times for licensable activities. Five relevant representations had been received in relation to the application, 4 representations from local residents opposing the application and 1 representation from a local resident in support of the application.

The applicant’s agent Mr Onur Siroren informed the Panel that there were no amendments to the application.

Richard Fletcher on behalf of Nikolaos Panigirtzoglu Interested Party (resident of Belsize Village) made the following points in objection to the application.

The area was primarily a residential area with flats and private homes occupied by many families with young children surrounding the rear of the premises. The business hours proposed for the application were far later than other restaurants in the Village and the Belsize Streatery trading times and it was not clear why the applicant wanted an extension to the opening hours of the premises. 

If the application were to be approved this would permit an increased footfall of up to 5,000 people in the heart of a residential area, resulting in increased noise nuisance and antisocial behaviour disturbing the local peace and quiet long into the night.

The application was for live and recorded music “on the premises”, which presumably included the narrow strip of curb outside the premises. Were the applicant to add tables and chairs outside this would obstruct the pavement and rights of way of residents as there was limited private space outside.

The application was for a licence for a restaurant, not a Wine Bar or Pub. The Licensing Panel should condition as a term of the licence that alcohol could only be served to customers who were enjoying a substantial meal while sitting down in the premises.

In response to a question of clarification from the Chair about what type of music the Panel could regulate, the Legal officer advised that the panel could regulate both live and recorded music. However, in relation to recorded music before 11pm with less than 5,000 people a licence was not required. If there were more than 5,000 people in any premises before 11pm then this would need to be conditioned and permission granted by the panel. 

The Legal Officer also noted that Mr Fletcher had referred to a written submission that he submitted which the panel had not seen  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report of the Executive Director, Supporting Communities.

This is an application to vary the designated premises supervisor in respect of Elysee Restaurant, in accordance with Section 37 of the Licensing Act 2003

This report has an appendix, which contains information exempt within the meaning of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 and is not for publication. The appendix has, therefore, been circulated to Panel Members the Police Responsible Authority and Premises Licence Holder only.

If the Panel wishes to discuss the contents of a closed exempt appendix it may pass the proposed resolution identified at the end of the agenda to exclude members of the public and the press from the proceedings for that discussion.

This application was deferred at the request of the applicant.

Report of the Executive Director, Supporting Communities.

This is an application for a new premises licence under section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003.

Consideration was given to a report of the Executive Director Supporting Communities detailing an application for a new premises licence under Section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003.

The Licensing Officer provided the Panel with a summary of the application and advised that the premises was not situated within a cumulative impact area, and that following representations made by the Police and Licensing Responsible Authorities the application had been amended to include conditions agreed with both responsible authorities. The police and Licensing responsible authorities had subsequently withdrawn their representations and the agreed conditions could be found on pages 231 -233 of the agenda.

The licensing objectives engaged by the application were the prevention of crime and disorder, the prevention of public nuisance, public safety and the protection of children from harm. The hours policy had not been engaged by the application. One relevant representation had been received in relation to the application, from a local resident opposing the application.

The applicant’s agent Gill Sherratt informed the Panel that there were no amendments to the application.

Reza Pashazadeh Interested Party and local resident summarised his objection to the application as outlined in his representation on pages 229 – 230 of the agenda. He also highlighted that he welcomed the space now being used by Poundland as it had been empty for a while due to the Covid pandemic. His objection related to a specific impact on this local area in relation to rubbish and issues with broken bottles, homelessness linked to alcohol consumption in the local area particularly the back service yard and was of the view that, Poundland selling of alcohol would escalate anti-social behaviour and crime issues in the area

Mr Pashazadeh answered questions as follows:

• There were a lot of issues with empty and broken bottles in the area and particularly at the rear of the premises and the provision of low-cost alcohol would worsen the situation in the area.
• He had direct personal knowledge of the impact of these issues as he had witnessed a private company having to carry out a full-scale removal of rough sleepers from the car park area. There were broken bottles, drugs and drugs paraphernalia everywhere.
• The issue with consumption of alcohol and nuisance in the area was worse over the weekend.
• The broken glass was unsafe particularly for children and also caused damage to vehicles.
• The positioning of alcohol in the shop was also quite prominent.
• The stronger the alcohol, the bigger the issue was going to be.
• However, there was more concern with bottled alcohol as it was more of an issue than cans of alcohol.

Gill Sherratt, Agent for the applicant presented the applicant’s case, summarising the representation made on pages 76-79 of the agenda and responding to the comments of the interested party stated that:

Poundland was part of a national company of around about 800 stores which used to have the format of selling things for a pound. That format and concept ended around about five years  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

There was none.