Agenda and draft minutes

Prior to commencement of the meeting, it had been agreed that Councillor McAuliffe would chair the meeting.

Members and Officers are reminded to make any declarations of pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests that they may have in relation to items on this agenda and are reminded that they should re-declare their interest before consideration of the item or as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

Members and officers should make their declaration by stating :

a) the item they have the interest in

b) whether it is a pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial

c) the nature of the interest

          Councillor McAuliffe declared a personal interest in agenda item 4 as a member of South Downs National Park Authority who have previously issued and enforcement notice in regard to the unlawful siting of a marquee in the grounds of the Fox Inn, Arundel Road, Patching.  He advised that he had not had any involvement in the enforcement action nor was he aware of it until he had received the agenda papers for this hearing.

          The Chair confirmed there were no urgent items.

The Authority is in receipt of an application to review a premises licence for a premises known as The Fox Inn, 145 Arundel Road, Patching, Worthing, BN13 3UJ.

Prior to commencement of consideration of this item, the Chair asked that those in attendance introduce themselves.  The Premises Licence Holder was in attendance and was accompanied by a friend who was representing him.  The hearing was then formally commenced.

Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Licensing Officer presented the report which outlined the detail of the case for an application from Environmental Health (with representation from Arun District Council acting as the Licensing Authority) to review the Premises Licence of the Fox Inn, Arundel Road, Patching, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 3UJ on the basis that the licensing objectives ‘Prevention of Public Nuisance’ and ‘Prevention of Crime and Disorder’ within the Licensing Act 2003 had been undermined.  He referred to the previous enforcement action taken by the Licensing Authority in respect of noise nuisance and the  enforcement action taken by the South Downs National Park Authority in regard to a breach of Planning concerning the unlawful siting of a marquee within the grounds of the premises.  He drew attention to the representation received from the Premises Licence Holder in response to the action taken by the Licensing Authority and the South Downs National Park Authority, which had been circulated separately to all parties in advance of the hearing.  In addition a further representation had been received from  a resident who was no longer able to attend the hearing, which had been circulated to all parties before the start of the hearing.  The Premises Licence Holder’s representative, wished to point out that they considered the information contained in the further representation to be misleading.

Following the Council’s procedure for Licensing Sub-Committees, detailed representations were heard from the Responsible Authority for Environmental Health in attendance, followed by questions from the Sub-Committee and other parties present which were responded to at the meeting. The Premises Licence Holder and his representative made representations and answered questions from the Sub-Committee and Responsible Authority for Environmental Health. 

The Premises Licence Holder’s representative explained that it had not been possible to obtain a noise monitoring report from an acoustics company as the noise limiter tamper proof seal had been fitted by this Licensing Authority and as a result the company had declined to interfere with it .  The Responsible Authority for Environmental Health advised that this matter had not been raised before.  He explained that this Licensing Authority no longer set up noise limiters and would have been historic.  There was no restriction in place that would stop a specialist assessing the noise equipment.  

With regards to the planning matters raised, it was noted that the South Downs National Park Authority was the Planning Authority dealing with the Planning matters and not this Authority.  However, the Premises Licence Holder’s representative provided information in relation to the encroachment of the premises’ land by six feet.  This encroachment also affected the premises licence in terms of making noise louder as a result and had prevented the placing of a noise barrier fence on the perimeter of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.