Agenda item

Report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory requests Members consideration for a Temporary Event Notice for Lake Victoria Bar and Restaurant, Unit 8, Crossgates Shopping Centre, Station Road, Cross Gates, Leeds, LS15 8ET

The report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory presented a report in respect of an event at Lake Victoria Bar and Restaurant, Unit 8, Crossgate Shopping Centre, Station Road, Cross Gates, Leeds, LS15 8ET. The notice has been submitted to authorise licensable activities for a birthday party. The Environmental Protection Team served an objection notice to the Temporary Event Notice (TEN) on the grounds of prevention of public nuisance.

In summary, the application sought licensable activities for the provision of late night refreshment and the provision of regulated entertainment From 19:00 hours on Saturday 15th October until 03:00 hours on Sunday 16th October 2022. It was noted the maximum capacity for the event would be 60 people.

In attendance at the hearing were:

• Jimmy Sydney – Applicant
• Elizabeth Hebbert – Environmental Protection Team

At the hearing, despite best efforts, it was noted that the Sub Committee was made up of two Members, rather than three. All parties to the hearing agreed to proceed with two Members.

The Legal Officer set out the procedure for the hearing and the Licensing Officer presented the application.

• The TEN had been submitted for a birthday event which the Environmental Protect Team had submitted a counter notice against.
• The current license for Lake Victoria was available at page 7 of the late item agenda pack.

The Environmental Protection Officer in attendance provided information relating to the submitted counter notice and objection:

• The current use of the premises was as a restaurant and late night parties were not appropriate for this venue; all local takeaways shut at 11pm and the local pub is only licensed until 1am. The Planning department had also advised when approving the use of the premises that it was covered for use as a restaurant and not a pub or night club. The basis of the objection was on the grounds of potential excessive noise, disturbance to local residents with patrons leaving late at night and the venue being deemed inappropriate for this event. 
• There are concerns that hosting a party involving music and alcohol will lead to public nuisance for residents in flats adjacent to the premises. A complaint had been received from these flats in response to an event held at this premises in June 2022 under a TEN, stating inappropriate noise could be heard until 4am on this night.
• An opening night event had taken place at the premises on the 6^th of August 2022, the Environmental Protection Team hadn’t objected to this as it was considered a one of event but concerns had arose due to the multitude of late night events licensed under TENs that had occurred over the summer.
• Environmental Health had objected to TENs for similar events which were scheduled to take place at the same premises on 9th - 10th July (20:00 - 04:00am) and on 29th - 30th July (20:00 - 03:30am). The July TEN application was withdrawn by the applicant.

 The Licensing Sub Committee was informed of the following points by the applicant:

• The management of the premises was different at the start of the year, the past two TENs were under the current applicant but prior to this, the events which had received complaints, were submitted by different people. It was believed that the last event had been well managed in regard to noise and people leaving the premises, no complaints had been received and the overall reviews of the restaurant were much more positive with an improved image within the community.
• The adjacent flats which were noted to be subject to potential disturbance were across two dual carriageways and the venue does not have loud speakers. Mr Sydney had been in contact with local residents and had not received any objections to the event. The opening event in August had 80 people in attendance and no issues were raised by local residents. There had also been an event on the 17^th of September which had received no complaints, however it was not clear whether permission had been granted for this event. The applicant believed it had been submitted as a TEN but this application was not located on the Licensing Officers management system. 
• The issues raised regarding people leaving the venue late at night will be dealt with via taxis being asked to pick up from the rear carpark which is a significant distance from the adjacent flats to the front of the venue.
• The intention of the premises was to act as a restaurant, which is does daily, and not as a night club or drinking venue; the TEN was submitted for people to stay late at the venue and the license to serve alcohol until midnight was not applied to be extended. This event will be a special birthday occasion and not a regular occurrence; the venue was deemed appropriate for this use and to hold the event at a different place would likely incur high costs. The lease on the restaurant is for 5 years and the need to get on well with the community was understood.
• Although the notice had requested to be open until 3am it was the intention to finish the event at 2am, with the extra time to arrange people to leave the venue and book taxis. The event as scheduled to be late due to the fact people invited had a significant distance to travel to get there and to work around their work commitments; those invited were all friends and family to the applicant.
• The licensing department had not raised any concerns or sent anyone to check the venue after events, arrangements to limit disturbance had been made and if deemed necessary door staff and security will be provided.

In response to questions from Sub-Committee Members, the following was confirmed by the Environmental Protection Officer in attendance:

• The complaint from the 6^th of August event had been sent to the Planning department and not the Environmental Protection Team. No further complaints had been received for the premises with 5 TENs being submitted in this time.
• No official objection had been submitted by ward members for any of the TENs but there had been some liaison with ward members and Environmental Health regarding the events on the 25^th of June and 1^st of July about the amount of TENs submitted by the premises.
• There was nothing in place currently to monitor the events, but the local complainant had said the noise from the 6^th of August has been less intrusive and the case had been closed on previous complaints due to not anticipating any further events.

In response to questions from Sub-Committee Members, the following was confirmed by the applicant:

• There are no more events anticipated this year at the premises that may require a TEN and there was no intention to apply for a variation to the full license immediately but the applicant may look to change terms of use in regard to planning and licensing in the long term.
• The applicant, as the DPS, had a current Security Industry Authority (SIA) license. There had been 7 TENs submitted this year, only 3 of them by the applicant which had experienced no incidents or concern. 

Members were concerned that the event noted by the applicant which took place on the 17^th of September was not permitted by the licensing department and wanted this raised with enforcement. This application was not considered to be against the licensing objectives, but it must be well managed.

RESOLVED – To grant the Temporary Event Notice and not serve a counter notice.