Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any disclosure of interests from Members and Officers in matters to be discussed.

Note: Councillors are reminded of their obligations to declare disclosable pecuniary interests, personal and/or prejudicial interests in accordance with legislation and the Council’s Code of Conduct.

There were no disclosure of interests made at this meeting.

The Chairperson welcomed all those present to the meeting:

Applicant:

Philip Tidridge on behalf of the Environment Protection Team for Winchester City Council

Licence Holder:

Sue Hitchen (attended remotely via MS Teams)

Other Persons who have made written representations:

Councillor Paula Ferguson (representation on pages 27 & 28)

The Interim Licensing Manager introduced the report which set out an application for a review of the premises licence under section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003 for Foodies Festival, North Walls Recreation Ground, Gordon Road, Winchester. The application had been submitted by Philip Tidridge on behalf of Environmental Protection for Winchester City Council, a responsible authority as defined under section 13 of the Licensing Act 2003 on 24 December 2021, and related to the prevention of public nuisance licensing objective citing incidents from the event held under the premises licence in 2021 as evidence to support the applicant’s view that the licensing objective had not been promoted. The application proposed the imposition of conditions on the premises licence to promote the relevant licensing objective. The full application was set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

The premises licence has been held by The Media Company Publications Ltd since May 2021 and authorises the provision of live music and the supply of alcohol (for consumption on and off the premises) for a maximum of 3 consecutive days per calendar year. Full details of the operating schedule and existing conditions were set out in Appendix 3 to the report.

In conclusion, the Sub-Committee were advised that no representations had been received by Responsible Authorities. Four written representations had been received from ‘Other Persons’ (including from two Ward Councillors). These representations were set out in full in Appendix 2.

At the invitation of the Chairperson, the applicant, Mr Philip Tidridge, on behalf of Environmental Protection for Winchester City Council addressed the Sub-Committee to set out his application and responded to questions.

The Chairperson then invited Councillor Paula Ferguson as ‘Other Persons’ who had made relevant written representation as Ward Councillor for St Bartholomew to address the Sub-Committee. The points raised were answered by the applicant and the Interim Licensing Manager accordingly.

Lastly, the Chairperson invited the Licence Holder and Managing Director of Foodies Festival, Sue Hitchen, to address the Sub-Committee in response to the points raised regarding the non-compliance with specific conditions in relation to public nuisance within the premises licence and questions were answered thereon.

Mrs Hitchen confirmed that to alleviate the concerns of the applicant and local residents in future, she was happy to comply with the additional conditions proposed by Mr Tidridge, as set out in the report.

The Sub-Committee retired to deliberate in private.

In his closing statement, the Chairperson stated that the Sub-Committee had carefully considered the application for review, the representations made by the Applicant, ‘Other Persons’ and the Licence Holder.  It has taken into account the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy, the Home Office Guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003, the duties  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.