Agenda and minutes

The Democratic Services Officer read out the procedure.

Councillor Gabriel Batt sent his apologies, Councillor Anthony Clarke was his substitute.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

There was none.

To be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair(person).

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 7th January 2014 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair (person).

To be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair(person).

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 16th February 2014 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair(person).

RESOLVED that the procedure for this part of the meeting be noted.

RESOLVED “that, having been satisfied that the public interest would be better served by not disclosing relevant information, in accordance with the provisions of Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined by paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended.”

The Sub-Committee considered the report which sought consideration of an official police warning obtained by Mr MM during the term of his Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver's Licence.  Then the Sub-Committee should determine any action to be taken and consider the renewal of his Combined Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver's Licence.

The Licensee was present.  He confirmed he had read and understood the procedure for the meeting.

The Senior Public Protection presented the report and circulated the two Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks to the Sub-Committee.  The Licensee and Officer withdrew from the meeting for Members to have time to consider this information.

The Licensee presented his case and made the following points:-

·  he explained that English was not his first language;

·  he had picked up his passenger and waited for him when he went into the Job Centre;

·  when the passenger had returned to the car suddenly two police cars had pulled up to arrest his passenger and then had a warrant to search his car;

·  he had never been in trouble with the police so was very scared and he told them he was a taxi driver but was told not to worry;

·  when the item was found in the car he had explained that items were sometimes left in the car by passengers and he would keep them to return to the passenger later on;

·  he was given a verbal warning by the police and signed it as he wanted to go home;

·  when he received the DBS he said that was not what had happened and wrote a letter complaining;

·  when he received the amended DBS little had changed and nowhere did it state that his passenger was arrested before the car was searched so it did not state the full story;

·  he stated he did not smoke any kind of drugs.

In answer to questions the Licensee gave the following information:-

·  he had tried cannabis in Bosnia when he was younger but had not done so since;

·  he had picked up his passenger on a number of occasions;

·  he provided some references from the schools he worked with;

·  he explained the information from the police was misleading as it was not the full story.

The Licensee chose not to sum up.

Following an adjournment it was

RESOLVED to take no action in respect of the police warning and to renew the Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver's Licence in respect of Mr MM.

Reasons for decision

Members have had to consider a police warning referred to on Mr M’s DBS check and in so doing determine whether to renew his Hackney Carriage/Private Hire Driver's Licence.

With regard to the warning Members heard that this related to possession of a cannabis grinder showing traces of green vegetable substances. Members noted the DBS did not record any convictions cautions or warnings and, that being the case, particularly in light of his representations and references found him a fit and proper person and granted his licence accordingly.

RESOLVED that the procedure for this part of the meeting be noted.

The Sub-Committee considered the report which sought determination of an application to vary the Street Trading Consent to include the cooking and sale of hot food in respect of the Street Trading Pitches within Southgate Place. 

The applicant was not able to be present and had sent his apologies and was happy for the application to be heard in his absence.

The applicant's case was in the paperwork.

The objector Sandra Wilcox put her case and made the following points:-

·  the windows in her flat overlooked Southgate so any smells would invade her home every day 10:00 - 18:00 hours;

·  measures had been taken re the escape of odours from the Cosy Club and wires had been fixed to the parapets to deter the seagulls;

·  this application would attract the gulls;

·  this was not acceptable in Bath a heritage city.

In answer to questions the objector made the following points:-

·  she noted that cold food was already allowed and she had only seen ice-cream sold which gulls did not like;

·  in his letter the applicant referred to the Christmas Market and similar events not weekly or even monthly, the objector stated that if it was just the Christmas Market at that time of year her windows would be shut so there would not be a problem but as the application was for hot food every day it gave him the potential to provide hot food throughout the year which would cause a problem.

The objector chose not to sum up.

Following an adjournment it was

RESOLVED that the application to vary the Street Trading Consent as applied for, to include the cooking and sale of hot food in respect of Street Trading Pitches within Southgate Place, be granted subject to the standard terms and conditions.

Reasons for decision

In determining the application to vary a Street Trading Consent at Southgate Place, Bath Members took into account the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, the Council’s Policy on Street Trading and the Human Rights Act 1998. 

Members noted that the applicant was unable to attend this morning and had agreed that the matter should be determined in his absence.  Members therefore took account of his written representations and the oral representations from the objector(s).

Members noted the applicant was seeking the ability to sell hot food to tie in with events such as the Great Bath Festival and Christmas Market.  They also noted his statement that he was responsible for residential apartments in Southgate with over 150 residents and in the 4 and a half years of trading there had been no complaints and if granted he would closely monitor the situation.

Members heard that the objector’s property overlooked Southgate place and she did not want the smell of cooked food every day from 10 am and the gulls attracted causing a nuisance.

Members determined, however, that given the applicant’s representations, commitment and all the surrounding circumstance, Members determined that this application would not cause a nuisance.  Accordingly the application was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 115.

RESOLVED that the procedure for this part of the meeting be noted.

The Sub-Committee consider the report which sought determination of a new Premises Licence in respect of Tesco Stores Ltd, 20 High Street, Upper Weston, Bath.

Present:

Applicant

Jeremy Bark   - representing Tesco Stores Ltd

Darren Rawlings  - store manager

Representations

Cllr Colin Barrett  - representing Christopher Askew and Belinda Andrews

The applicant was represented by Jeremy Bark along with Darren Rawlings the store manager.  They had read and understood the procedure for the meeting.

The Public Protection Officer presented the report and explained that a new premises licence had been applied for as a result of the store expanding.  The A4 blue notice that had to be displayed at the premises had been inspected as a result of those who had made representations alluding to the fact that it was not displayed in a prominent position.  The inspection concluded that the notice was fully compliant with the regulations.

The applicant's representative put the case and made the following points:-

·  Tesco Express stores were a convenience store aimed at people doing a daily shop or shopping for a couple of days;

·  there had been a store there previously but Tesco had acquired the unit next door so the layout had changed and their policy was to apply for a new premises licence;

·  it was anticipated that trading would commence in May 2014;

·  alcohol sales were approximately 7-9% of total sales and a limited range would be sold at the store, 95% of alcohol sales were linked to other goods;

·  the company promoted good practice and had a policy of being a good neighbour;

·  they used the Think 25 Policy (a national age-verification scheme) and were the first company to introduce this which was linked to the till which would freeze and messages would pop up including checking for date of birth;

·  it was now mandatory to have an age-verification scheme and the company provided training and did audits using a mystery shopper;

·  they did quarterly check lists with the store manager to check all standards were being met;

·  all staff undertook induction, refresher and modular training and 27% of training related to age verification, this training was accredited by the institute;

·  spirits were displayed behind the counter;

·  there was no public access/egress to Crown Road;

·  staffing levels were high with often 7 members of staff on the shop floor;

·  the company did not tolerate anti-social behaviour and displayed a 'rogues gallery' of people who were banned from the store;

·  they met regularly with police community support officers;

·  the Police as a statutory authority had not objected to the application;

·  they had a good relationship with the community and met with ward councillors;

·  they recognised that local residents had fears but other similar stores had not experienced problems and if there was any anti-social behaviour it was not linked to Tesco;

·  the store manager had 19 years of experience and was a local man who knew the area well;

·  in the current licensing regime it was necessary to have hard evidence  ...  view the full minutes text for item 117.