Agenda and minutes

General Licensing Sub-Committee - Tuesday, 9th April, 2013 10.00 am

Venue: The Assembly Room - Town Hall, Macclesfield SK10 1EA. View directions

Contact: Julie Zientek  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

84.

Appointment of Chairman

To appoint a Chairman for the meeting.

Minutes:

RESOLVED – That Councillor P Whiteley be appointed Chairman.

85.

Apologies for Absence

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

86.

Declarations of Interest

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests and for Members to declare if they have predetermined any item on the agenda.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

87.

Application for the Renewal of a Sexual Entertainment Venue Licence - Schedule 3, Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 - S T Lounge Gentlemens Club & Champagne Bar, 16 Grove Street, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 1DR pdf icon PDF 91 KB

To consider an application for the Renewal of a Sexual Entertainment Venue Licence made by Van Leisure Ltd in respect of S T Lounge Gentlemen’s Club & Champagne Bar, 16 Grove Street, Wilmslow, Cheshire.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The General Licensing Sub-Committee considered an application by Van Leisure Ltd for the renewal of a Sexual Entertainment Venue Licence for ST Lounge Gentlemen’s Club & Champagne Bar, 16 Grove Street, Wilmslow, Cheshire under Schedule 3 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 (‘the 1982 Act’).

 

The Sub-Committee heard in person from the applicant, the applicant’s legal representative and two witnesses for the applicant, and from a number of objectors and representatives of objectors, including a legal representative for Make Wilmslow Matter.

 

RESOLVED

 

After a full hearing of the application and in accordance with the rules of procedure, after having taken into consideration:

 

The provisions of Schedule 3 of the 1982 Act

Home Office Guidance relating to sexual entertainment venues

Cheshire East Borough Council’s policy on the licensing of sexual entertainment venues and

All the evidence presented to the Sub-Committee, including the submissions of each of the parties to the hearing and the written objections within the report and the late representations

The case law referred to.

 

The decision of the Sub-Committee was:

 

1. The relevant locality for the purposes of this application was 150 metres radius of the Premises

2. To refuse the application for a renewal of a twelve month sexual entertainment venue licence on the grounds that it would be inappropriate having regard (i) to the character of the relevant locality and (ii) the use to which any premises in the vicinity are put

 

for the following reasons:

 

The relevant locality included a quality shopping and commercial area, including the pedestrianised Grove Street which was used by a wide range of people including children and young people, families and older people as well as a significant number of residential properties in streets adjacent to Grove Street. The relevant locality also included St Teresa’s Catholic Church and Wilmslow Prep School

Within the vicinity there were further sensitive premises, which included residential premises, Wilmslow High School, The Leisure Centre, St Bartholomew’s Church, Wilmslow Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church

The change that had taken place during the last twelve months was that ST Lounge was more prominent due to the adverse publicity it had received and as a result people had changed their attitudes and habits and were now tending to avoid walking past it, particularly in the evening when they felt uncomfortable. Evidence was also accepted that they felt uncomfortable in the daytime. The public concern had become more widespread during the last 12 months

An example of the community concern was the objection from Wilmslow Town Council which unanimously made a recommendation to Cheshire East Council that the appropriate number of sexual entertainment venues in this locality should be nil, although Cheshire East Council had not given consideration to such a restriction.

 

The objections received from a 13 year old and the mother of a 15 year old showed that concerns arose from a wide age range in the community.

The matters which added to the raised awareness and which raised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87.