Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee A held on 16 October 2023 as published.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the Sub-Committee held on 16 October 2023 be approved and signed as a true and correct record.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary and other interests from Members in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

To consider any business that the Chairman rules may be dealt with under Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no items of Urgent Business.

Reporting Person – Matthew Cobb

The Sub-Committee had before it a report regarding an application by CSE Residents Property Management Limited for a Review of the Premises Licence held by DoubleTree Hilton, Woking.  Mr Rees-Gay attended the meeting to represent the hotel along with Mr Kiss, the Premises Licence Holder, Mr Butt of Doubletree Hilton and Mr King of Acoustic and Engineering Consultants Ltd.  Ms Nowicka attended the meeting alongside Mr and Mrs Block to represent CSE Property Management Limited.

All parties present had a copy of the Licensing Committee’s agreed procedure to be followed at Licensing Sub-Committee hearings.  The Chairman introduced Members of the Sub-Committee and outlined the order of speaking which would be followed at the hearing.

The Licensing Authority’s representative, Mr Cobb, advised the Sub-Committee that the hotel had opened in March 2000 and the Council’s records showed that a Premises Licence had been held since at least 2005.  The adjacent residential block, Enterprise Place, had been built in 2009.  The Licensing Department had received a request for a review of the Premises Licence from Mr Hatherley of CSE Residents Property Management Ltd on 18 October 2023 in relation to two of the licensing objectives: the prevention of crime and disorder and the prevention of public nuisance in reference to noise music affecting residents.  A letter had also been received from Environmental Health which was attached as Appendix 4 to the report.

None of the parties present had any questions for Mr Cobb.

The Chairman gave Ms Nowicka and Mr Block the opportunity to address the Sub-Committee.  Mr Block stated that he and his wife had moved to Woking and that living in a peaceful environment was an important factor.  In addition to the social gathering towards the end of 2022, there had been two noise limit tests on 19 September and 28 November 2023, however it was not felt that these tests had fairly replicated an evening event where music had been played, for example discjockey announcements, karaoke or live music.  He stated that prior to 2022, issues had been easier to resolve with the hotel.

Ms Nowicka stated that the main issue for the residents was that the conditions proposed by the hotel were felt to be insufficient and highlighted a number of examples from the logs supplied by CSE Property Management Ltd as part of the call for the Review between March 2022 and September 2023.  The Sub-Committee was advised that the residents felt that there had been breaches of the Licensing Objectives relating to the prevention of crime and disorder due largely to noise nuisance, protection of children from harm, raising a question of whether Challenge 21 was in force, and public safety with instances of rubbish and shattered glass outside the venue.  She asked for consideration to be given to reducing the end time for the sale of alcohol to 21.00 hours and noted that the existing Premises Licence had been granted prior to the construction of Enterprise Place.

Neither Mr Cobb nor Mr Rees-Gay had any  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.