Agenda and draft minutes

RESOLVED that Councillor Hamblett be elected as Chair for the duration of the meeting.

There were no apologies for absence received.

There were no items of urgent business received.

Councillor Hamblett declared a personal non prejudicial interest at item 7.

There were no public questions received.

RESOLVED that the order of proceedings be noted.

Consideration was given to a report which asked the Panel to determine an application for the grant of a premises licence in respect of Woodlands Café, Dunwood Park, Shaw, Oldham OL2 7UR which, due to representations being received, had been referred to this Panel for determination.

The Panel was informed that, on 22nd September 2023 the applicant, GP Care Group CIC, applied for the grant of a premises licence for The Woodlands Café. The last date for representations in relation to this application was 20th October 2023. Representations had been received and were attached at Appendix 14.4 to the report.

The Panel were asked to consider the Authority’s Licensing Policy Statement.

Their attention was drawn to paragraph 8 - Public Nuisance.  They were also asked to consider the statutory guidance issued by the Secretary of State under Section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003.

The Panel were reminded that the steps available to them were:

a. Grant the application as applied for

b. Grant the application with the amendments agreed with Public Health

c. Grant the application but modify the operating schedule in relation to hours, days, conditions, or activities

d. Reject the application

Any steps appropriate to promote the licensing objectives should be specified. If no steps were appropriate the application should be granted.

The Panel heard from the applicant, who informed them that the intention was to serve alcohol alongside food and not for parties. Alcohol would only be served within the building and on the patio. The aim of the café was to support social isolation as most customers didn’t want to go to the pubs in Shaw where alcohol was prominent, rather have a singular glass of beer or wine with a meal.

The Panel heard from the objector, who informed the Panel that there had been issues with previous users of the park which caused a noise nuisance to the residents. Cars would double park along the road and anti-social behaviour would happen on a regular basis within the park. To combat the behaviour, the gates to the car park were locked at dusk and it was felt that the granting of the application would stop the gates being locked again.

The Panel was informed that the gates would be continued to be locked by First Response Officers and granting of the License would allow for CCTV to be installed which would make the area safer. The recent issues in the area were nothing to do with the café itself and there was nothing it could do to stop the youths from entering the park.

RESOLVED that having regard to the statutory licensing objectives, in particular the prevention of public nuisance, it was appropriate for the premises licence to be granted as applied for the standard timings, however be modified to 1 Saturday a month 11am – 9pm and the purchase of alcohol to be ancillary to the purchase of a meal.