Agenda and minutes

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

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

Voting: Unanimous

To receive any apologies for absence from Members.

There were no apologies. The Chair thanked Cllr D Farr and Cllr D Kelsey for their attendance as reserves in case needed.

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.

For transparency Cllr T Johnson reported that he had been a member of Planning Committee when the application for change of use had been dealt with but this did not affect his judgement on the licensing application.

McDonalds Restaurants Ltd have made an application for a premises licence to allow the provision of late night refreshment from 23:00 to 05:00 Monday to Sunday.

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

Present:

From BCP Council:

Sarah Rogers – Interim Licensing Manager

Johanne McNamara – Legal Advisor to the Sub-Committee

Jill Holyoake – Clerk to the Sub-Committee

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

The Interim Licensing Manager 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 for a new premises licence for McDonald’s, Barrack Road, Christchurch, BH23 2AW, submitted by McDonalds Restaurants Ltd, to allow the provision of late night refreshment from 23.00 to 05:00 Monday to Sunday. In response to the application the Licensing Authority had received an objection from one other person on the grounds that granting the application would undermine the prevention of public nuisance licensing objective. 

Mr Leo Charalambides, Legal representative for the applicant, attended the hearing and addressed the Sub Committee to expand on the points made in written submissions.

The following persons were also in attendance on behalf of the applicant in case their input was required but they were not required to address the Sub Committee:

Mr Mark Gallant, McDonalds Restaurants Ltd, Fire Safety and Licensing Officer

Elaine Rayner, Shoosmiths LLP, Solicitors on behalf of applicant

The objector was not present, having previously indicated that they would not be attending the hearing.The Chair read aloud the objector’s written representation in their absence, for the purpose of the public record.

The Sub Committee asked various questions of Sarah Rogers, Interim Licensing Manager, and Leo Charalambides, Legal Representative for the applicant, and were 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.

RESOLVED that the application for a new premises licence for McDonalds, Barrack Road, Christchurch BH23 2AW, to allow the provision of late night refreshment from 23:00 to 05:00 Monday to Sunday, be granted in accordance with the application.

Reasons for Decision

The Sub-Committee gave detailed consideration to all of the information which had been submitted before the hearing and contained in the report for Agenda Item 5, in particular the written representations made by the objector, and the verbal submissions made at the hearing by Sarah Rogers, Interim Licensing Manager, and Leo Charalambides, the Legal Representative for the Applicant. The Chair read aloud the objector’s written representation in their absence, for the purpose of the public record.

The Sub-Committee was mindful that no representations had been received from any of the Responsible Authorities. In considering the objector’s representation, the Sub Committee acknowledged that it was only able to take into account matters directly relevant to the licensing objectives in respect of the operation of the proposed premises licence.

The Sub-Committee was encouraged by the applicant’s desire to engage and work with the local  ...  view the full minutes text for item 108.