Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED: That Councillor Cooper be appointed Chair.

COUNCILLOR COOPER IN THE CHAIR

None.

To consider and determine an application for grant of a premises licence in respect of KFC, Unit 17, Hornhill Road, Nunnery Way, Worcester, Worcestershire, WR4 0SX.

The Sub-Committee considered an application for a Premises Licence in respect of KFC, Unit 17, Hornhill Road, Nunnery Way, Worcester, WR4 0SX.

At the start of the meeting, the Chair made the following statement:

“Presentations to the Sub-Committee are not given under oath. However, I would like to remind all parties that the highest standards are expected and any deviation from these high standards could possibly influence any decision of the Sub-Committee.”

All parties at the hearing were introduced. In attendance for the Applicant were Joe Harvey (Poppleston Allen, Solicitor), Hark Sambhi (Area Manager) and Gariela Debska (Restaurant General Manager). Mr Harvey confirmed that he was satisfied with the proposed procedure on the Applicant’s behalf.

The Licensing Technical Officer presented the report on behalf of Worcestershire Regulatory Services and explained that the application was for the provision of Late Night Refreshment every day from 23:00 hours to 02:00 hours.

During the consultation period, no representations were received from any of the responsible authorities. However, in response to the public notice, representations were received from members of the public.  In summary, the representations expressed concern in relation to increased levels of anti-social behaviour and noise and litter pollution, stating that the grant of a premises licence would undermine the prevention of crime and disorder, prevention of public nuisance and public safety licensing objectives.

All parties were offered the opportunity to ask questions of the Licensing Technical Officer.

The Applicant’s Solicitor was then invited to make representations on behalf of the Applicant. Mr Harvey stated in summary that the premises were currently open until 23:00, with a 22:00 closure of the internal seating area, and clarified that the new opening hours until 02:00 for late night refreshment would be for drive-through and delivery service only. The Applicant had agreed the conditions recommended by the Police under the prevention of crime and disorder licensing objective. The Applicant understood the concerns of local residents particularly in relation to noise and litter (both being under the public nuisance licensing objective). The Applicant was committed to litter picking and staff currently litter picked daily round the store, once per week in the wider area surrounding KFC and once per month in neighbouring areas, such as the A4440.

In response to questions from Sub-Committee Members, Mr Harvey stated that issues with car meets and similar issues relating to ‘boy racers’ were rare but that they were reported to the Police and the Police were pro-active with attending and dispersing.

The number of bins outside the Premises for individuals who chose to eat the food in their cars has been doubled. The expectation of management was that they might expect 10-12 sales per hour between 23:00 and 02:00.

The Applicant had installed colour CCTV to cover the whole car park and drive through areas. No safety issues had been reported nor expected regarding staff leaving the premises late at night, but that management would act upon it if this did occur. The Applicant expected their late-night customers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.