Agenda and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2019.

The minutes of the meeting held on 19 December 2019 were confirmed by the members present and will be signed by the Chairman at the next available opportunity. 

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence. 

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interests.

The Sub-Committee were required to consider an application for a premises licence for the following premises:

Woodland Weddings

Lila’s Wood

Wick Road

Hastoe

Nr Tring

Hertfordshire

The Chairman introduced himself, the members on the Sub-Committee and the officers present.

N March confirmed that the relevant requirements of the applicant have been met.

The Chairman asked N March if he had anything to add to the report.

N March advised that the application was for the provision of music, alcohol, and late night refreshment. This is for the provision of wedding celebrations, and such events have previously taken place under the authorisation of Temporary Event Notices (TENS).

Nine representations have been received to the application, all objecting. No representations were received from the responsible authorities.

Attempts were made by the applicant and a couple of the objectors to mediate, but these communications did not ultimately lead to any agreement or withdrawal of the objections.

Validity of Objections

Whilst all of the objections that are included in the report are valid due to some of their content, many aspects cannot be taken into consideration by the committee as they are not relevant to this licence application.

The promotion of the four licensing objectives is the key consideration when determining an application, together with any issues being specifically relevant to that application, there being evidence to support any decision, and any issue not being regulated by other legislation. It is probably of benefit of all parties, the Licensing objectives are:

Prevention of Public Nuisance, Protection of Children from Harm, Prevention of Crime and Disorder, and Public Safety.

Common themes that have been reported in objections are as follows:

·         Concerns about traffic – often issues with Taxis struggling to find the venue

Traffic is not generally a valid consideration for licensing applications, and that is the case with this application. This is more suitable for the planning process. The specific issue of hired companies struggling to find the premises is an issue of responsibility of those companies providing that service, and their behaviours referred to such as parking in private driveways etc. would be a cause for complaint to the relevant company. It is also notable that the applicant has taken steps to mitigate these issues.

·         Planning concerns and that this application is for a premises in an area of natural beauty

The fact that the application is for an area of natural beauty is not a relevant consideration for licensing, and would be considered as part of any planning requirements. It has been highlighted that there is an outstanding planning issue, but that has to be dealt with via the planning regime and not through licensing. The mentions of Hotels and golf courses previously refused by Dacorum will also have been through the planning process, not licensing.

·         Use of fire pits

As fire safety is a matter for the Fire Regulatory Reform Order 2005, any concerns in regards to the safety of these are the responsibility of the company, with the Fire authority  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.