Agenda and minutes

Councillor Satnam Gill welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked members and officers to introduce themselves.  He outlined the procedures for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillor Michelline Ngongo and Councillor Gary Poole.

Councillor Williamson substituted for Councillor Poole and Councillor Gantly substituted for Councillor Ngongo.

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a)     Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b) Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f) Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

None.

The order of business would be as the agenda.

The minutes of the meetings held on the 17 July and the 22 July 2014 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

The licensing officer reported that revised conditions had been tabled. These would be interleaved with the agenda papers.

The solicitor for the applicant reported that the hours for the sale of alcohol has been amended to 10:00 am to 23:00 hours.  A number of conditions had been proposed to control anti-social behaviour, sales of underage children, street drinking and staff training.

A local resident raised objections on the application based on the cumulative impact policy and stated that however good the management was, there would still be an increase of alcohol on the streets of the area. The residents should be protected from the resulting anti-social behaviour.

The legal advisor informed residents that there was not a blanket ban on applications in the cumulative impact area but the policy created a rebuttable presumption.

The police spoke against the application and asked that it be refused. He reported that there had been just less than 3500 recorded crimes in the area between April 2013 and March 2014 and this area was the second busiest in the Borough for the police. The police were tasked each weekend to this area in attempts to deal with crime and disorder.   The police had spoken to the applicant and was concerned that he had not demonstrated strong management skills.  This was an area of high crime with a large number of licensed premises and he considered that an increase in alcohol on the streets would increase alcohol related crime.

Christopher Rees-Gay solicitor, supported by Mustafa Has, the applicant, informed the Sub-Committee that the applicant had seven years’ experience and had operated at a licensed premises in Bethnal Green for the last four years with no problems. The applicant had given the local resident his email address should there be any issues.  The shop had been licensed for the previous nine years and recently until 01:00 am.

The premises was a small mini market and alcohol sales were required.  The applicant was a responsible operator, had met with the trading standards officer and had gone through the licensing policy and tailored the application in order that all licensing objectives were promoted.

He reported that the concerns raised in the licensing policy regarding the Angel area related to the late night economy and not for the hours that this application related to. The Holloway/ Finsbury Park area policy did mention street drinking but it had not been stated in relation to this area.  The terminal hour had been moved from 08:00am to 10:00am due to concerns of residents.  The hours applied for reflected those stated in the guidance and the premises would not be selling alcohol after midnight. All staff would be fully trained and would not serve people when drunk.  He did not believe that off licences would encourage pre-loading.  The representation from PS Walsh related to street drinking.  The applicant had met with the officer from trading standards in the afternoon and he was satisfied with the conditions proposed. Residents were unable to pinpoint problems  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

The applicant reported that planning permission for A3 use had been granted on the 22 January 2014.  A letter sent from the applicant to residents was tabled and would be interleaved with the agenda papers.

The noise officer reported that the applicant had accepted the proposed noise conditions.

Three local residents spoke in objection to the application.  They reported that the coffee shop was in the cumulative impact area.  There considered that there was no reason to sell alcohol with coffee.  There was regular anti-social behaviour in the area. Concerns were raised that the premises would not be as well managed by a future licensee. Police did not consider anti-social behaviour a priority.  The residents gave an example of anti-social behaviour that took place after midnight on the 18 June 2014.  It was considered that the Angel had reached saturation point and it was for the applicant to rebut the presumption of cumulative impact.  The premises were close to a school and public transport links and asked members to refer to the Home Office guidance regarding this.  They raised concerns regarding the off sales and how this would be managed. They stated that additional alcohol sold would be likely to add to further anti-social behaviour and also to the existing cumulative impact in the area.  Residents welcomed a coffee shop in the area but did not consider that it was necessary for the shop to sell alcohol.

The applicant spoke in support of the application.  He reported that the premises was a speciality coffee house serving the local community. He employed local staff and operated an in house training programme.  He did not intend to become a bar or a club and would only serve alcohol until 8pm and this would be ancillary to food sales.  Wine would only be served to seated customers.  He did not consider that it would create further noise or impact on the local community.  He had spoken to the local police, recognised his responsibility to local residents and was sensitive to issues regarding drinking, noise and protection of children.  He reported that he would work in partnership with residents.

In response to a question from the legal adviser he reported that, as a compromise to residents, he would withdraw the off sales he had applied for.

In summary, the residents reported that they were unhappy with the addition to the number of licensed premises, which would increase the cumulative impact.

The applicant reported that he was a responsible manager and had withdrawn off sales as a compromise.  He would continually review the business and liaise with residents.

RESOLVED

1) That the application for a new premises licence in respect of The Coffee Works Project, 96-98 Islington High Street, N1 be granted to permit the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises only from 12:00 to 20:00 on Monday to Saturday and 12:00 to 17:30 on Sunday.

2) Conditions as outlined in appendix 3 as detailed on pages 100-103 of the agenda shall be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.