18-04-20

STATUTORY LICENSING SUB-COMMITTEE

Minutes of a meeting held on 20^th April, 2018.

Present: Councillors Mrs. P. Drake, K.P. Mahoney and Mrs. M.R. Wilkinson.

Also present: Licensing Officer (Vale of Glamorgan Council), South Wales Police Officer, Environmental Health Officer (Vale of Glamorgan Council), Legal Officer (Vale of Glamorgan Council).

The Applicant was not in attendance and was not represented.

The Scrutiny Support Officer explained as to the procedure to be used for the hearing and advised that copies were included within the agenda.

(a) Appointment of Chairman -

Councillor K.P. Mahoney was elected Chairman for the duration of the hearing.

(b) Declarations of Interest -

No declarations were received.

The Chairman welcomed those present to the Sub-Committee hearing and invited each person to introduce themselves. He asked if all parties had made written representations to which all advised that they had.

The Chairman invited the Licensing Officer to present the report, who advised that an application had been made under the Licensing Act 2003 for a time-limited premises licence for a three-day outdoor music festival with camping around the festival arena.

The Licensing Officer went on to advise that the local authority had regard to the Licensing Act 2003 and its four Licensing Objectives. The Objectives were:

The prevention of crime and disorder;
Public safety;
The prevention of public nuisance;
The protection of children from harm.

The application in question was submitted on 23^rd February, 2018 and attached at Appendix A of the report. The application sought authorisation for the following licensable activities to be carried out between Friday 27^th to Sunday 29^th July, 2018.

Sale by retail of alcohol;
Late night refreshment;
Recorded music;
Live music.

For clarification, the Officer advised that, at a meeting on 27^th March 2018, the Applicant had confirmed that he was requesting a terminal hour of 02:00 which was not reflected in the timings currently included within the Application Form. The Officer also highlighted an administrative error on page 2, paragraph 3 of the report in that the start time for recorded music stated 02:00 but should read 14:00.

The Licensing Officer advised that under the Licensing Act 2003 (Premises and Club Premises Certificate) Regulations 2005 a Responsible Authority, or any other person may make relevant representations at any time during the 28 day consultation period. The local authority had received two relevant representations from Responsible Authorities. On 22^nd March, 2018 from South Wales Police and the Shared Regulatory Services Environmental Health Team. Copies of the representations were attached at Appendices B and C of the report.

In conclusion, a Premises Licence, once granted, would generally remain in force indefinitely. However, the application was specifically for a single event and would therefore be time limited. The matter had been referred to a Sub-Committee for determination as Licensing Officers did not have the delegated authority to determine applications where relevant representations had been received and not withdrawn.

In the absence of the Applicant, the Chairman invited the Responsible Authorities to make their representations.

P.C. Jason Young (South Wales Police) referred to the six proposed conditions, within his written representations, already available to the Panel. He advised that he had no further comments or amendments to make on these, however, wished to summarise the primary concerns of the South Wales Police regarding the application in question:

1. The number of persons attending the event was not adequately quantified and was stipulated as being anywhere between 2000 to 5000 persons. The Applicant had also confirmed, at an earlier meeting, that tickets would be available for sale during the course of the event. This was therefore a large scale event that required strict people management.

2. The Applicant had not confirmed the ratio of SIA staff to attendees. Very little detail had been provided by the Applicant on the steward arrangements which were an integral part of promoting public safety.

3. The proposed vehicle access point, directly off the A48, was for vehicles entering and exiting the site. This would cause significant congestion. The preferred traffic flow solution, that had been suggested to the Applicant, would be for two points of entry; one for entry and another to exit the site.

With no further questions at this point, the Chairman invited the Environmental Health Officer to make her representations.

The Officer advised that the Environmental Health Department had included 22 proposed conditions within its written representation and had no further comments or amendments to make on these.

The Officer continued by advising that at a meeting between the Applicant, Environmental Health and South Wales Police, on 27^th March, 2018 the Applicant stated that he had not received the representations made by the Environmental Health Department and was therefore not privy to all concerns raised to continue discussions. The meeting was subsequently adjourned and there had been no further attempts made by the Applicant to mediate concerns since this date.

The application under consideration was the second with regards to the event. A previous application had been submitted in January 2018 which was subsequently refused due to the Applicant not complying with advertisement requirements as per the licensing policy.

The Officer went on to set out the primary concerns of the Environmental Health Department as follows:

1. The Applicant had provided the Environmental Health Department with a noise propagation, prediction and management report collated by Sound Stage One Event Production Services. The third party report demonstrated that the sound levels at neighbouring properties were predicted to reach 65.4 decibels. This level of sound was in line with the Code of Practice but only until the operating hour of 23.00.

2. The application as submitted referred to music being played over three days for up to 14 hours per day and a maximum finish time of 02.00. This would be significantly disruptive for local residents.

3. At the previous meeting on 27^th March, 2018 the Applicant had advised that performers had been booked for Friday, 27^th July, 2018. However, the application stated live music only available on Saturday, 28^th and Sunday, 29^th July. This was a primary concern as the application did not accurately reflect the intentions of the Applicant.

The Chairman then invited questions of the Responsible Authorities from all persons present.

A Panel Member queried the primary entrance currently proposed onto the site. In the absence of the Applicant, the Environmental Health Officer shared her understanding of the primary entrance to the site being the direct turning off the A48 nearest to the green burial site. This was labelled on the map provided by the Applicant.

The Chairman referred to the third party noise report and asked whether the proposed sound limits were the upper limit allowed for this type of event. As a supplementary question, he also asked what the distance was to the nearest residential property from the site. The Environmental Health Officer confirmed that the 65.4 decibels, suggested within the Sound Stage One report, was the upper limit for noise levels up to 1 metre from a property’s entrance for this type of event and provided the Panel with a diagram which displayed that the nearest property was 325 metres from the most central performance stage on site.

A Panel Member asked if the Applicant had given any indication in previous conversations as to the type of music that would be played live and/or recorded. In the absence of the Applicant, the Responsible Authorities were unable to inform the Panel of the exact types of music. However, they believed there to be a variety of acts and therefore music styles. The Environmental Health Officer also wished to add at this point, that despite the type of music there would still be a clear base tone that would be heard from neighbouring properties due to the music needing to be of a certain level to satisfy customers attending the festival.

In the absence of any other persons, the Chairman invited the Responsible Authorities to sum up, to which the officers advised that they had nothing further to add.

At the point of final clarification for Members, the Chairman asked as to the total number of performance stages proposed on the site as the application form referred to 3, however, the Applicant’s diagram demonstrated 4. Officers advised that their understanding was that there would be 4 performance stages but clarification would be required of the Applicant.

Following the summing up and there being no further points for clarification, the Responsible Authorities retired to allow the Panel to deliberate in private.

On return, the Chairman advised that the application was for a grant of a Premises Licence at Coedarhydyglyn, St. Nicholas, CF5 6SF. The application was for the sale of alcohol, late night refreshment, recorded music and live music. The hours requested in respect of the licensable activities were:

Sale by retail of alcohol

Friday to Sunday: 12:00 hours to 02:00 hours

Late night refreshment

Friday to Sunday: 12:00 hours to 02:00 hours

Recorded music

Friday to Sunday: 14:00 hours to 02:00 hours

Live music

Saturday and Sunday: 12:00 hours to 00:00 hours.

Representations had been received from the Licensing Authority, Environmental Health and the South Wales Police. All written representations including the Licence Application were considered by the Panel as well as verbal representations provided at the hearing as set out above.

The Chairman advised that following consideration of the application, the representations of the Local Authority and Responsible Authorities, and having considered the Home Office guidance along with the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy, and also taking into account the Licensing Act 2003 (as amended) in particular the Licensing Objectives, the Licensing Sub-Committee

RESOLVED - T H A T the application be refused, having considered the Licensing Objectives, guidance and Vale of Glamorgan Policy, the Committee were not satisfied that the Applicant had explained sufficiently how the Licensing Objectives would be met and promoted and what preventative measures would be taken to reduce any potential negative impact the event may have on the local community.

Reason for decision

Crime and Disorder

The lack of information provided on the likely number of people to attend the event and the relevant staff subsequently employed to manage the number.
There had been very little consultation with South Wales Police on how to manage the large scale event. It was not clear how many SIA security staff would be managing the event or what measures would be put in place to seek to avoid any crime and disorder.

Public Safety

The lack of information for dealing with individuals who became highly intoxicated due to alcohol consumption. In particular when the persons were camping on site.
No figure had been provided to the Panel on the number of SIA trained staff that would be present on site during the full course of the event.
The lack of information on the movement of vehicles and people throughout the site and in particular at the entrance points off the A48.
The lack of description regarding ‘welfare’ services and the implications of this during the event.
Despite a clear need for a large amount of electrical equipment on site, there were no representations addressing a fire risk from either the Applicant or the South Wales Fire Service or any information on how a fire emergency would be avoided and/or managed.

Public Nuisance

There had not been sufficient levels of liaison with the Environmental Health Department to mitigate their concerns.
The lack of evidence to suggest that local residents had been consulted and understood the impact of the event.
There was no acknowledgement of noise pollution and its direction of travel within the application.
The event would mean a significant increase in the amount of vehicles in and around the site which was located on an already busy road and it was not clear how traffic would be managed to minimalise any potential nuisance deriving from this.

Protection of Children from Harm

From the application submitted, it was not clear how the ‘children friendly’ areas would be operated on site during the event.
The application stated that children would be allowed access to the site but no detail of child friendly operating hours.
There was no indication on which preventative measures would be in place for preventing harmful substances being brought onto the event site.

The Committee was advised that the Applicant had a right of appeal against the decision of the Committee. The appeal must be made in writing and within 21 days to the Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Magistrates Court. Should the Applicant be in any doubt as to their legal rights and/or responsibilities they should take independent legal advice.