Agenda and minutes

Venue: Civic Hall, Leeds

Contact: Governance Services  Copies of the full report with appendices are available on request from the clerk. For details of the new premises licence please contact Entertainment Licensing on 0113 378 5029 after the hearing.

Items
No. Item

1.

Election of the Chair

Minutes:

RESOLVED – Cllr. Harland was elected Chair for the duration of the meeting.

2.

Appeals Against Refusal of Inspection of Documents

To consider any appeals in accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules (in the event of an Appeal the press and public will be excluded)

 

(*In accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2, written notice of an appeal must be received by the Head of Governance Services at least 24 hours before the meeting)

 

Minutes:

There were no appeals against refusal of inspection of documents.

3.

Exempt Information - Possible Exclusion of the Press and Public

 

1)  To highlight reports or appendices which:

 

a)  officers have identified as containing exempt information, and where officers consider that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons outlined in the report.

 

b)  To consider whether or not to accept the officers recommendation in respect of the above information.

 

c)  If so, to formally pass the following resolution:-

 

  RESOLVED – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of those parts of the agenda designated as containing exempt information on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information

 

2)  To note that under the Licensing Procedure rules, the press and the public will be excluded from that part of the hearing where Members will deliberate on each application as it is in the public interest to allow the Members to have a full and frank debate on the matter before them.

Minutes:

There were no exempt items.

4.

Late Items

To identify any applications as late items of business which have been admitted to the agenda for consideration

 

 (the special circumstances shall be identified in the minutes)

 

Minutes:

There were no formal late items. However there was supplementary information in relation to Agenda Item 7 – Application for the renewal and variation of a sex Establishment Licence for Purple Door, 5 York Place, Leeds, LS1 2DR. Minute no. 7 refers.

 

 

5.

Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

To disclose or draw attention to any disclosable pecuniary interests for the purposes of Section 31 of the Localism Act 2011 and paragraphs 13-16 of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

 

Minutes:

Cllrs Harland and Wilkinson declared that they had sat on previous Licensing Sub Committees which had heard applications for Liberte and Purple Door. Cllrs Harland and Wilkinson said they would consider both applications for Liberte and Purple Door with an open mind.

6.

Application for the Renewal of a Sex Establishment Licence for Liberte, 10 York Place, Leeds, LS1 2DS pdf icon PDF 125 KB

Members are requested to consider the report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory for the renewal of a sex establishment licence for the provision of sexual entertainment in the form of lap dancing. This application is made by TRL Promotions Limited for a premises to operate under the name of Liberte, 10 York Place, Leeds, LS1 2DS.

 

(Report attached)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report of the Chief Officer, Elections and Regulatory set out an application for the renewal and variation of a sex establishment licence for Liberte, 10 York Place, Leeds, LS1 2DS.

 

The Licensing Sub Committee were advised of the following points:

·  The application was made by TRL Promotions Limited to operate under the name Liberte;

·  The premises had held a licence for the provision of regulated entertainment and the sale of alcohol since 28th January 2008. It was understood that lap dancing had been held at the premises since that time;

·  Liberte is one of the four venues in the city centre which has a licence for sexual entertainment;

·  The application was for the renewal of the sex establishment licence for the ground floor and basement level at the premises;

·  The hours of operation are:

o  22:00hrs until 04:00hrs Sunday to Thursday

o  22:00hrs until 05:00hrs Friday and Saturday

·  The application had attracted seven objectives which were set out at Appendices F and G of the submitted report;

·  The applicant had provided additional evidence in response to the objections which were set out at Appendix H of the submitted report;

·  It was noted that no observations had been received from West Yorkshire Police.

 

Members were made aware that the applicant had confirmed that they wished to amend the application to incorporate the two additional conditions as set out in the letter of objection from the Local Authority’s Senior Liaison and Enforcement Officer.

 

The additional conditions were:

·  When the licence holder employs a subcontractor, no person under the age of 18 years of age shall carry out work for or on behalf of the venue, whether paid or unpaid, which includes advertising promotional work such as flyering, etc.

 

·  The licence holder will carry out age verification checks of all staff employed or subcontracted by the premises and will maintain a recorded log which is kept up to date of all checks made including the forms of identification checked. The record log shall be produced immediately on request to a police constable or officer of the Licensing Authority.

 

Mr Gary Grant, Barrister for the applicant informed the Members of the following:

·  Liberte is one of four of the surviving sex establishment venues in the City Centre and had successfully renewed its licence since 2012;

·  Liberte is a highly and professionally run venue not exploiting its dancers.

·  Dancers were not charged up front to dance; the dancers split the costs and the venue receive 30% of the takings;

·  Liberte took good care of the dancers welfare, with polices in place to ensure that the dancers had all the legal documents required to work in this country;

·  Highlighted the handwritten letters from employees of Liberte included within the agenda pack at pages 164 -172. Mr Grant said that from the letters  the Sub-Committee could see that the dancers held Liberte in high esteem and chose to do this type of work;

·  Mr Grant said that a local resident had made an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Application for the Renewal and Variation of a Sex Establishment Licence for Purple Door, 5 York Place, Leeds, LS1 2DR pdf icon PDF 121 KB

To receive the report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory for the consideration of the renewal and variation of a sex establishment licence for the provision of sexual entertainment in the form of lap dancing. The variation aspect of the application proposes to extend the terminal opening times by an additional hour each day. This application is made by Ruby May (2) Limited for a premises to operate under the name of Purple Door, 5 York Place, Leeds, LS1 2DR.

 

(Report attached)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory requested Members consideration on the renewal and variation of a sex establishment licence for the provision of sexual entertainment in the form of lap dancing. The variation aspect of the application proposed to extend the terminal opening times by an additional hour each day.

 

The Licensing Sub Committee were advised of the following points:

·  The application was made by Ruby May (2) Limited to operate under the name Purple Door

·  The premises had held a licence for the provision of regulated entertainment and the sale of alcohol since 24th November 2005. It was understood that lap dancing had been held at the premises since that time;

·  Purple Door is one of the four venues in the city centre which has a licence for sexual entertainment;

·  The application was for the renewal of the sex establishment licence for the ground floor and basement level at the premises;

·  The current hours of operation are:

o  22:00hrs until 04:00hrs Sunday to Thursday

o  22:00hrs until 05:00hrs Friday and Saturday

·  The proposed hours of operation:

o  22:00hrs until 05:00hrs Sunday to Thursday

o  22:00hrs until 06:00hrs Sunday to Thursday

·  The application had attracted seven objectives which were set out at Appendices F and G of the submitted report;

·  It was noted that no observations had been received from West Yorkshire Police concerning this application.

 

Members were made aware that the applicant had confirmed that they wished to amend the application to incorporate the two additional conditions as set out in the letter of objection from the Local Authority’s Senior Liaison and Enforcement Officer.

 

The additional conditions were:

·  When the licence holder employs a subcontractor, no person under the age of 18 years of age shall carry out work for or on behalf of the venue, whether paid or unpaid, which includes advertising promotional work such as flyering, etc.

·  The licence holder will carry out age verification checks of all staff employed or subcontracted by the premises and will maintain a recorded log which is kept up to date of all checks made including the forms of identification checked. The record log shall be produced immediately on request to a police constable or officer of the Licensing Authority.

 

In attendance at the meeting were:

·  Nicholas Quadrini – Managing Director

·  Carl Copeland – Manager

·  Airides Benosenko – Manager

·  Sarah Smith – Solicitor

·  Officer from the Licensing Authority

·  Ms C Hunt – Member of the public

·  Ms B Barry – Women’s Equality Party Leeds

 

Ms Smith spoke to the Sub-Committee in regard to the renewal of the licence informing the Members of the following points:

·  Purple Door is the longest established Sexual Entertainment venue having opened in 1998 one of only four in the city centre;

·  The premises have successfully renewed its licence every year since 2012;

·  There had been no changes to the premises and the external frontage was the same;

·  Appendix C of the report provided information on policies and checks in relation to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.