Agenda and minutes

The Democratic Services Officer read out the procedure.

Apologies were received from Councillor Manda Rigby. Councillor Gerry Curran substituted for her.

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.

Members noted the procedure to be followed for the next item of business.

Applicant: Rosario Shaw

Objector: Highways Department, Bath and North East Somerset Council, represented by Alan Sperring (Highways Inspector)

The parties confirmed that they understood the procedure that would be followed for the meeting. The Public Protection Officer summarised the report.

The Applicant stated his case. He said that the objection from the Highways Department stated that a minimum clearance of 2 metres was generally required. Mr Shaw said that as he measured it, the distance between the tables and chair and area and the wall of the opposite premises was 2.2 metres. He submitted that obstruction in Northumberland Place came was caused by the trestle tables displaying merchandise for the Bag Shop and not by his tables and chairs. In response to questions from Members he stated:

·  he had applied for an increase in the area for tables and chairs in order to provide more comfort and convenience for his customers; he employed 7 staff, had lost trade to restaurants and needed more customers to make the business sustainable

·  his tables and chairs and the trestle tables from the bag shop had been in Northumberland Place for 5 years without causing problems; it was not a main thoroughfare

The Highways Inspector stated the case for the objector. He said that crowding occurred in Northumberland Place when people lingered to inspect the goods on the trestle tables outside the Bag Shop. In reply to questions from Members he stated

·  he did not know whether the Bag Shop paid a fee for having the trestle tables outside;

·  the extension of Roscoff’s tables and chairs area had the potential for causing a bottleneck, as the clearance would become narrower

·  the figure of 2 metres for generally required clearance had no legal basis, but was local guidance

·  there was not a serious congestion problem in Northumberland Place, though sometimes people had to wait before they were able to move on

The Sub-Committee RESOLVED to adjourn for a site visit.

Following a further adjournment for deliberation, the Sub-Committee RESOLVED to grant the application.

Reasons

Members have had to determine an application to place 3 tables along with appropriate seating on the highway to the front of the premises at 18 Northumberland Place, Bath. In doing so they took account of the Highways Act 1980 and the Human Rights Act 1998 and balanced the representations from the objector against the application and its background.

Members noted that the application is for renewal of the tables and appropriate seating to the front of 18 Northumberland Place, Bath with times permitted remaining the same, i.e. Monday to Saturday from 07:00 to 19.00 hours and Sunday from 09:00 to 19.00 hours. The change since the last permit was issued is an increase in size of the area for placing the tables and seating from 3.3m by 1.06m to 3.3m by 1.90m.  In reaching a determination members had to decide whether the application was likely to obstruct the free passage of pedestrians, cause a public nuisance in highway terms or  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.