The Business Partner (Litigation/Licensing)
welcomed all present to the Hearing, reported that no declarations
of interest had been received and introductions to all parties were
made. He also drew attention to the
procedure for the conduct of the Hearing as attached to the
agenda.
The following parties were present at the
Hearing:
(a)
Applicant
(i)
Mr Azhar Ali (Applicant)
(ii)
Mr Majid (Employee)
(b)
Responsible Authorities
(i)
Mr Malcolm McKessar (Licensing Officer), Suffolk Constabulary
The Licensing Officer presented the report
which explained that an application for the grant of a premises
licence was received on 11 August 2022 for USA Chicken, 94 High
Street, Newmarket.
The licensable activities being proposed under
the licence were as follows:
-
Late Nigh Refreshments
Sunday to Thursday 11am to
2am; and
Friday to Saturday 11am to
4am.
It was highlighted that although the applicant
had applied for the activity from 11am, under the Licensing Act,
late night refreshment was the supply of hot food and drink from
11pm to 5am and should the licence be granted, the licensing
authority could only authorise the activity from 11pm.
The reason for this hearing was that relevant
representations had been received from two Responsible Authorities
within the consultation period, being West Suffolk Council’s
Planning Development team and Suffolk Constabulary. Details of the representations were attached at
Appendix C to the report.
In particular the written representation from
West Suffolk Council’s Planning Development team set out the
following planning conditions for the premises as follows:
-
Monday to Saturday: 8am to 11pm
-
Sunday: 8am to 10.30pm
-
Closed on Bank Holidays
Therefore, the proposed license application
would be in breach of current planning conditions.
The premises was also located within
Newmarket’s Cumulative Impact Area (CIA) and details of the
CIA was contained within the Council’s Statement of Licensing
Policy.
The Committee was therefore asked to determine
the application, and in reaching a decision, Members were advised
to consider the Licensing Act 2003, the Guidance on the Act and the
Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy in relation to the
adopted CIA.
The Sub-Committee then heard the individual
submissions from each of the parties present.
In presenting his case, the Applicant, Mr
Azhar Ali (Applicant) explained that weekends, especially late
nights on Saturdays were the busiest period for selling hot food,
which was why he had applied for the extending licensing hours
until 4am.
Mr Malcolm McKessar (Suffolk Constabulary)
then addressed the hearing in respect of the reasons for objecting
to the application under the “prevention of crime and
disorder” and “public nuisance”
objectives. He then set out the
following three points:
1)
A licence to 4am was beyond the applicants previous suspended
licence, and the hour of 4am was out of line with other similar
premises in the vicinity.
2)
Under Section M of the application, there was insufficient detail
provided that the licencing objectives would not be further
compromised, and suggested the following 4 conditions be
included:
i)
CCTV:
The premises shall install and maintain a comprehensive
...
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