Agenda item

Tring Town Amateur Football Club

Miswell Lane

Tring

Hertfordshire

HP23 4BX

 

The Chairman asked the Members of the Sub-Committee to confirm that they had read the agenda. Councillors Barnes and Taylor confirmed they had read the documents at hand.

 

R Hill made the following statement:

 

‘‘You have before you an application for the grant of a new club premises certificate for Tring Town Amateur Football Club, in respect of the Miswell Sports Pavillion, off Miswell Lane in Tring.

 

A club premises certificate only authorises the provision of permitted activities for club members and their bona fide guests. It would not permit events to be provided for the general public, unlike premises licences.

The application is set out in the report packs, and the applicant has offered a reduction from the times originally sought to those shown at para 2.2. of the appendix report, on page 8.

 

As a result of this reduction, and following a meeting organised by the applicant at the premises on the 6^th November, three of the representations have been withdrawn – those at annexes C10, C16 and D of the report.

 

Representatives of the applicant club and those persons who made representations have been invited to attend today’s meeting to address the Committee.

The options available to the Committee today are set out at para 4.1 of the main report, on pages 5-6 of the bundle. The Committee are reminded that any steps taken must be considered appropriate in order to promote one or more of the licensing objectives, and that reasons should be given to explain why the decision was reached.’’

 

The Committee had no questions for R Hill.

 

The Chairman asked the Applicant if he would like to say anything before the Sub-Committee were invited to ask him questions.

 

A Meager, the father of the applicant, gave the following statement:

 

‘’I am the applicant but I’m the most senior person in the club.  We have taken over the site which has seen football played on it for over 50 years.  We have taken over the lease from the council.  We provide local sport for local kids in that end of the town and actively encouraging them to get involved.  Previously the site was looking like a bomb site but now looks great, it’s a respectable site now with grass cut, and a tidy site and good feedback has been received.  While the site is now being used it doesn’t encourage vandals or bad behaviour.  The activities are provided to kids at next to nothing and we have got grants from the football association for equipment. 

The hours in question are for Saturdays only really in order to get extra revenue to pay for electric, water and pitch. We feel that we need a bar to continue to grow the game.’’ 

 

The Chairman invited Members to ask questions.

 

Councillor Taylor agreed with the enthusiasm about what has been done with the site.  He asked how many members there were.

A Meager confirmed there were 40 members.

 

Councillor Taylor said that the certificate would be for members, but asked if they could sign in guests, if so how many?

A Meager confirmed a maximum of 2 guests could be signed in.

 

Councillor Taylor said that the council was looking at the future and didn’t have information on what the past had been.  With regards to the new plans for the site he asked how they would cope with the parking (access is by foot and parking a premium).

A Meager explained that half of members live within walking distance.  There would probably see around 5-10 extra cars on match days so there had never been a parking issue. 

 

Councillor Barnes asked the age range of members?

A Meager confirmed the age ranged from 16 to 40 years.

 

Councillor Barnes noted they were rejuvenating the area.  He asked how an alcohol licence would help with providing young people with an activity.

A Meager said that if they sold a few drinks, it would bring in extra revenue that would go back into the club. They have recently employed a national FA coach so that was what the money was used for.  If kids play better football, they enjoy it more.

 

Councillor Taylor asked if he had met with the residents.

A Meager noted that his son did but only 2 turned up.

 

Councillor Taylor said that the application before us had gone over and above what they were looking for and was significantly different following the local meeting.

A Meager said this was not a business.  They just wanted to run a bar to get enough revenue for the kids. They could put whatever necessary restrictions in place.

When asked, A Meager confirmed they had two teams who had a match every week until Christmas time.

 

Mr S Mills asked through the Chairman, if there was any connection with the club at Cow Lane.

A Meager said there was no connection and a lot of their players come from out of the area.

 

The Chairman invited the residents present to speak.

 

Mr S Mills was a little surprised to see the application. He asked if they were sub-letting from the council.

R Hill confirmed that Tring Athletic surrendered the lease to DBC in March so this was now a separate lease.

 

Mr S Mills explained that the effects of the last owners were damaging for the area and there had been problems with local youths with fires etc.  If alcohol was introduced again he feared it would attract the undesirable to get into the premises.  As a nearby resident he was concerned with the future life of the club.  The local undesirables are liable to attack it.  He was pleased with the new times but raised concerns about the noise and drunken behaviour that will come.  He took issue with parking along Miswell Lane and felt that parking would spread to other areas.  He felt there was inadequate parking available.

 

The Chairman noted that parking was not the issue as the grant was only concerned with the clubhouse.

 

Councillor Barnes felt that a new club selling alcohol would be more secure than the previous empty property.

R Hill reiterated that the application was about alcohol.  All things external such as parking were not in the powers of the Committee.

 

Mr S Mills asked then if the parking was a Planning matter. He asked how could the council give someone a licence if there were parking problems.

R Hill said it was potentially a planning issue but the sport and club had been in existing use.  Today was about activities within the clubhouse.

 

Mr Jefferies read out his letter which had been included in the agenda pack as Annex C8. In addition he said it had been written before the amendment. He was a relatively new resident so did not experience the problems before. The biggest reasons for residents’ concerns were for music being played until late.   However, now the application for music and the hours has reduced, particularly Saturday, a lot of what we felt has been ameliorated.

 

The Chairman asked Mr Jefferies if he attended the local meeting.

He said he did not attend as he had heard about it the evening before so it was too short notice.

 

The Chairman invited those who had previously spoken to summarise their points

 

SUMMARY

Mr S Mills was reasonably happy with the hours as adjusted.  Hopefully they will keep the music down for the sake of the local children.  He still had concerns over the security of the site as it would have alcohol on the premises for four days, unattended.

 

A Meager said the first application was withdrawn after feedback from residents.  This showed that we listened to people. He felt that regular use of the site would deter any vandalism. He would listen to any recommendations for extra security.

The Committee moved into private session to consider the matter.

 

RESOLVED

 

The Sub-Committee resolved to grant the application for a new club premises certificate, with the modified hours offered by the applicant prior to the hearing, namely:

 

Supply of alcohol by or on behalf of a club to, or to the order of a member of the club (for consumption on the premises):

Wednesday                 17:00 hours until 21:45 hours

Friday                          17:00 hours until 21:45 hours

Saturday                      13:00 hours until 22:30 hours

 

From 30 minutes prior to kick off in televised competitive England international football matches (FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championships, or similar), until 30 minutes after the end of the match.

 

Hours club premises are open to members and guests

Wednesday                 17:00 hours until 22:00 hours

Friday                          17:00 hours until 22:00 hours

Saturday                      13:00 hours until 23:00 hours

 

From 30 minutes prior to kick off in televised competitive England international football matches (FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championships, or similar), until 30 minutes after the end of the match.

 

Recorded music; Entertainment similar to music/dance

Removed from the application

 

 

The Sub-Committee had carefully considered the application, the written representations and the verbal submissions made by the parties at the hearing.

 

They noted that the applicant club had offered a significant reduction to the hours and licensable activities originally requested, which went beyond what was suggested in many of the representations. They also noted that, as a result of the reduction in hours and a meeting organised by the applicant club, a number of the representations had been withdrawn.

 

The Sub-Committee considered that the amendments offered were very accommodating, and that the Sub-Committee were satisfied that granting the modified application would be appropriate for the promotion of the licensing objectives.