Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

None

To receive and note any declarations of disclosable pecuniary or prejudicial or personal interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

(The personal interests of Councillors of Somerset Council, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes.)

None

The Chair will confirm the procedure to be followed at the meeting.

To inform Members that an application has been made for a premises licence for Bath Rugby Limited Farleigh House, Farleigh Hungerford, Bath, BA2 7RW

On the evidence before it, having considered all the circumstances, in particular the expert opinion from the Environmental Protection Officer, the Sub-Committee grants the application for the Premises Licence as applied for, subject to the offered amendments as set out below and with the conditions as contained in the Operating Schedule.

The amended conditions are:

1. The Noise Management Plan submitted by the Applicant shall be complied with at all times that licensable activities are conducted and any amendments to the Plan shall be approved in writing by the Environmental Protection Team before being brought into force.

2. The Traffic Management Plan submitted by the Applicant shall be complied with at all times that licensable activities are conducted and all attendees at events where licensable activities are conducted shall be advised of appropriate routes of egress.

3. The number of events at which the licensable activities are conducted shall be restricted as follows:

(a) For the period from the date of issue of the Licence to 31 December 2023: 15

(b) From 1 January – 31 December 2024: 50

(c) Each calendar year from 1 January 2025: 80 with no more than 40 of these having a capacity of over 100 persons.

4. No events at which the licensable activities are conducted shall be held on Mondays or Tuesdays and no such events shall be held on Boxing Day or Christmas Day.

5. All recycling and refuse collections at the Premises shall be carried out between the hours of 9:00am and 6.00pm.

6. No fireworks shall be permitted at events where licensable activities are conducted.

7. The Premises Licence Holder shall arrange and convene a minimum of two meetings every calendar year to which neighbouring residents of the Premises shall be invited to discuss previous and forthcoming events at which licensable activities are conducted.

The Sub-Committee delegates authority to the Licensing Officer to add these to the Operating Schedule on the licence as issued.

The Licensing and Business Support Officer was invited to present his report.  He explained the Council had received an application from Bath Rugby Limited for a new Premises Licence at Farleigh House, Farleigh Hungerford, Bath, BA2 7RW.

The report explained Farleigh House was a Grade II listed 18th century country house standing on a 135-acre estate and was primarily used by Bath Rugby Club as their headquarters and an elite level training facility.  The premises had undertaken a major refurbishment and the applicants were now looking to host weddings, private parties, and corporate events.  Farleigh Hungerford was a village within the Parish of Norton St Philip in the Somerset Council area, 8 miles north of Frome.

The application asked for the following licensable activities:

Supply of Alcohol, Sunday – Thursday, 10:00 - 23:00 hours

Supply of Alcohol, Friday and Saturday, 10:00 - 01:00 hours

Regulated Entertainment, Friday and Saturday, 10:00 – 01:00 hours

Late Night Refreshments, Friday and Saturday, 23:00- 01:00 hours

The Council had received 34 representations from Other Persons that related to all four of the Licensing objectives.  A site visit had taken place on 12 May 2023.  A Licensing Officer had been present, along with 3 representatives of Bath Rugby, several local residents and 2 Division Members.  A second meeting between the applicant and local residents had taken place on 16 May 2023.  However, no agreement was forthcoming from these meetings therefore representations had been submitted.  These were considered by Officers to be relevant, and the application was therefore referred to the Licensing Sub Committee to determine.

Some of the representations were very similar.  Therefore, to help outline the concerns raised in all representations, the similar representations had been grouped together and appended to the report.  The proposed conditions were a collective of all conditions suggested within the grouping of representations.  The proposed conditions were also appended to the report.

Grounds for concern included the following:

·       Guest behaviour when consuming alcohol

·       Increased traffic

·       Increased noise

·       Increased light pollution

·       Risk of injury due to increased traffic

·       Use of fireworks

·       Use of drones

·       The number of events

·       Size of events

·       Children entering the licensable area and child safety

·       The impact on wildlife

·       Fear of crime

·       Lack of privacy

·       Respect for local residents

The Council had not received any representations from any Responsible Authority.

The Chair thanked the Officer for his report.  He reminded members of the role of the Licensing Sub Committee.  He noted that a lot of the representations had raised the same concerns, some of which raised issues relating to planning rather than licensing.

The Council’s Legal Advisor reminded Members that the Licensing Sub Committee were being asked to consider whether or not the application before them was acceptable in terms of the licensing objectives.  She went on to explain the licensing objectives.  She reiterated that the Licensing Sub Committee would not be able to consider planning issues as they were not relevant to this meeting.

Questions:

In response to questions the Officer confirmed neither the Council’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.