Agenda item

To consider the report of the Head of Elections, Licensing and Registration on an application received for the grant of a premises licence for “Pita Pit” 40 Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 8LX

The Sub Committee considered the report of the Head of Elections, Licensing and Registration on an application for the grant of a Premises Licence for the premises known as Pita Pit, 40 Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 8LX. The submitted report highlighted that the premises lay within the Cumulative Impact City Centre area (red zone).

The application had attracted representations from the following responsible authorities: West Yorkshire Police; LCC Environmental Protection Team and LCC Entertainment Licensing.

Prior to the hearing, the applicant had agreed measures with LCC Environmental Protection Team in respect of measures to address the public nuisance licensing objective. Subsequently LCC EPT had withdrawn the representation on the understanding that these measures would be included within the premises licence, should it be granted.

Arising from the correspondence between LCC EPT and the applicant, it was made clear that the opening times on the application contained within the report were incorrect. The hours of closing should read “Sunday to Thursday 23:00 hours and Friday and Saturday 04:00 hours”.

The applicant (Vita Bite Ltd) was represented at the hearing by Mr S Patel who had submitted a completed pro-forma risk assessment in support of the application.

In presenting his application to the Sub-Committee, Mr Patel explained that the Pita Pit company provided quick fresh, hot, healthy food, to eat in the restaurant or take away from the fast food counter. Mr Patel explained that the healthy options offered by Pita Pit were in contrast with other late night fast food providers. He went on to confirm that although Pita Pit had operated without a licence for a year, the premises had not attracted any complaints or been associated with any incidents. Mr Patel also confirmed that the application included a request to open until 04:00am Monday night/Tuesday and Wednesday night/Thursday mornings to benefit from Leeds’ “student nights”.

PC Arkle attended the hearing on behalf of WYP and confirmed that Pita Pit was situated in an area heavily populated by other licensed premises offering alcohol and late night refreshment. This area was known for alcohol-related crime and disorder which occurs mainly after midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Ms N Raper attended the hearing on behalf of the Licensing Authority and explained that following a review of the city, a new red zone of the Cumulative Impact Area had been implemented in January 2015.  She referred to the area being saturated with other licenced venues and that the area could not support any more licensed premises. She acknowledged that whilst the applicant had offered conditions, the Local Authority Entertainment Licensing Section did not view these as sufficient and felt the premises would add to the problems in the area.

The Committee carefully considered the application, written representations and those made at the hearing, including additional information provided by the Licensing Officer in respect of other late night refreshment venues in the locality. The Sub Committee also had regard to the licensing objectives and the representations made by the responsible authorities.

The Sub Committee noted that the applicant had said that Pita Pit had operated for a year without issue; but also had regard to the fact that this premises lay within the Red Zone of a Cumulative Impact Area. Members noted that the Cumulative Impact Policy created a rebuttable presumption of refusal for an application of this type.

The Sub Committee was not satisfied that the applicant had proved that this was an exceptional case and warranted setting aside the Policy.

RESOLVED – That the application be refused