Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chair of this meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee.

RESOLVED that Councillor Butt be elected Chairman of the Sub-Committee for the duration of the meeting.

Voting: Unanimous

To receive any apologies for absence from Members.

There were apologies received from Councillor Kelsey and Councillor Bagwell attended as the first reserve.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion. 

Wellhot Limited have applied for the renewal of the Sexual Entertainment Venue Licence to permit relevant entertainment to continue for a further twelve-month period. The Licensing Authority has received 2 valid objections.

This matter is brought before the Sub-Committee for determination.

Present:

From BCP Council:

Sarah Rogers, Licensing Officer

Josef Cannon – Barrister, Legal Advisor to the Sub Committee

Joe Tyler, Clerk to the Sub Committee

Nicky Hooley, Democratic Services, producing the minutes

The Chair made introductions and explained the procedure for the hearing which was agreed by all parties.

The Licensing Officer presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated and a copy of which appears as Appendix A to these minutes in the Minute Book.

The Sub Committee was asked to consider an application made by Wellhot Limited, for the renewal of the Sexual Entertainment Venue Licence to permit relevant entertainment to continue for a further twelve-month period.

The Licensing Authority has received 2 valid objections.

The following persons attended the hearing and addressed the Sub- Committee to expand on the points made in their written submissions:

For the Applicant:

Jon Wallsgrove, Solicitor, representing the Applicant

Mr Ojla, the Applicant

Objecting:

Cllr Dunlop (gave apologies, submission read by the Chairman)

Cllr Northover

The Sub Committee asked various questions of all parties present and was grateful for the responses received. All parties had the opportunity to ask questions. All parties were invited to sum up before the Sub-Committee retired to make its decision. Before concluding the hearing, the Legal Advisor advised all parties of the right of appeal.

The Legal Adviser explained that the decision would not come into effect until the expiry of 21 days, beginning with the day on which the Applicant was notified by the Licensing Authority of this decision in writing.

The decision being to grant the application, there was no statutory right of appeal against this decision.

RESOLVED:- that having considered the application, submitted  by Wellhot Limited, for the renewal of the Sexual Entertainment Venue Licence to permit relevant entertainment, to continue for a further twelve-month period at Wiggle, 159 Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth BH1 1JS.

Reasons for Decision:

The Sub-Committee had regard to the provisions of Schedule 3 to the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 (“the 1982 Act”), and in particular the available grounds for refusing the application contained within that Schedule. They agreed with Mr Wallsgrove, for the Applicant, that the only grounds in contention appeared to be the ‘discretionary’ grounds contained within paragraph 12(3)(d) of Schedule 3. It was to those grounds that the Sub-Committee turned their focus.

They noted in particular paragraph 10.4 of the Sex Establishment Policy, which required them in this context (where there had been objections) to consider the application against the criteria within the 1982 Act. They did not agree that the policy required them to grant the application unless exceptional circumstances could be shown. They considered their discretion to be wide.

Character of locality

The Sub-Committee were told that the premises had held a SEV licence for more than a decade, with renewals every year since at least 2006. Although the character of the locality had evolved and changed in that period, they did not consider that it had changed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.