Agenda and minutes

The applicants wish to vary the licence as follows:-

1)  To add off-sales hours to the licence from 10.00 to 22.00 daily.

2)  To add takeaways as an activity on the licence.

3)  To amend the childrens and young persons conditions, to remove reference to a pool table. 

Summary Sheet attached – Item 5(a)

Tracey Peedle, premises manager appeared and spoke to the terms of the application which sought to add off-sales from 10.00am to 10.00pm; to include takeaways as an activity and to amend the children and young persons’ terms. Ms Peedle explained the premises had been operating since 2017 and was mainly a food led business but wanted to include a takeaway menu and picnics with alcohol to offer their customers.

Having considered the foregoing, the Board agreed to grant the application as applied for.

The applicants wish to vary the premises licence as follows:-

1)  To change off-sales opening time from 11am to 10am.

2)  To include dance facilities, outdoor drinking and eating and home delivery of food and drink.

3)  To change the terms for children and young persons.

4) To include an external drinking area within the licensed area.

Summary Sheet attached – Item 5(b)

Andrew Morgan, premises manager attended and spoke to the terms of the application which sought to amend the off sales opening time from 11.00am to 10.00am and to include dance facilities, outdoor drinking and home deliveries as activities. Mr Morgan said the premises had been operating under occasional licences to incorporate functions and that home deliveries had proved successful. He advised that the change in children and young persons’ terms was to accommodate future functions.

Raymond Park, Licensing Standards Officer said that the application was to bring the operating plan up to date and that a lot of work had been carried out in the car park to enable outside drinking. He confirmed that a noise management plan would be put in place.

Sergeant Wendy Maginnis, Police Scotland referred to her report (Appendix 2).

David Kinniburgh asked Mr Morgan if staff used the car park and he replied yes but it was only one member of staff. David Kinniburgh stated that the parking had improved but asked if tables would be removed to allow access. Mr Morgan replied yes. The David Kinniburgh expressed his concerns regarding the access but Mr Morgan said the issue required to be managed by staff and maintained by them at all times. David Kinniburgh said that he had no issues with the application apart from the outdoor drinking area and moved to continue this aspect of the application to enable the licence holder to liaise with planning and roads services and to submit an amended layout plan in respect of the outdoor areas.

Susan Mair, Depute Clerk advised that the Board could grant part of the application and consider the outside area at a further meeting.

Richard Trail seconded the motion.

With no-one being otherwise minded, parts, 1, 2 and 3 of the application were granted and part 4 relating to the location and extent of the outdoor areas was continued to the next Board meeting on 10^th November.

The applicant wishes to vary the licence as follows:-

1)  To change the name of the premises to The Inveraray Inn.

2)  Addition of outdoor drinking area.

3) Amend premises capacity to include outdoor area capacity of 50.

Summary Sheet attached – Item 5(c)

Drew Anderson, premises manager attended and spoke to the terms of the application which sought to change the premises name; to include an outdoor drinking area and to amend the capacity to include the proposed area. Mr Anderson explained that the outdoor area used to be a car park for the premises.

Richard Trail referred to the current capacity of 815 and asked if the premises ever accommodated this number. Mr Anderson said he did not know where this figure came from as the capacity was approximately 200. Eric Dearie, Licensing Standards Officer suggested that this figure may have been carried over at the time of transition. He asked Mr Anderson if the premises were full, would it come close to current capacity and he replied no and that the maximum would be about 250. Mr Dearie suggested that the capacity be amended to 300 which included the outside drinking area. David Kinniburgh wondered if Mr Morgan could enquire about a more accurate capacity figure and asked if planning permission had been applied for regarding the external area. Mr Morgan agreed and confirmed that planning had been applied for 10 days ago.

The Vice Chair moved to grant the application subject to planning permission being granted and the submission of an updated capacity figure.

With no-one else being otherwise minded, this became the decision of the Board.

The applicant wishes to vary the licence as follows:-

1)  To change the premises into a Post Office, shop and cafe.

2)  To change the name of the premises to The Port Post Office.

3)  To change the description of the premises.

4)  To change the layout plan of the premises.

5)  To remove televised sport as an activity on the licence.

6)  To change the children’s and young person’s conditions.

7)  To reduce the capacity from 120 to 70.

Summary Sheet attached – Item 5(d)

The applicant, Rhona Watson attended. David Alderson also attended. Ms Watson spoke to the terms of the application which sought to convert the premises to a post office, shop and café; change the description, layout and the name of the premises; amend the children and young persons’ terms and reduce the capacity from 120 to 70. Ms Watson said she not only wanted to offer a wider range of groceries but wanted to expand the business in general.

Raymond Park, Licensing Standards Officer explained there was demand for this type of premises and suggested that the area to be used for bed and breakfast, be included in the children and young persons’ terms as well as adding the wording ‘at all times while resident’ when having a meal.

Richard Trail asked if the premises would still open until 1.00am each evening. Mr Alderson said that these hours would normally be used in the summer months and for functions but he did not want to amend the terminal hour. Mr Park advised that the premises were mainly a restaurant not a bar and suggested that the operating hours may be reduced, then if required, extended hours applications could be applied for.

The Vice Chair said he wanted consistency regarding the opening hours. Susan Mair, Depute Clerk confirmed that there were options to reduce the operating hours. Richard Trail asked if this could be added to the seasonal variation and Ms Mair replied yes. The Vice Chair suggested that occasional or extended hours applications be applied for if and when required. Mr Alderson stated he would be happy with this and would amend the terminal hour to 10.00pm then submit the appropriate applications for future events. Mr Park thought that 11.00pm would be more suitable as 10.00pm may interfere with customers having meals later in the evening. Mr Alderson agreed.

The Vice Chair said he had no issues with a seasonal variation of 11.00am to 11.00pm from 1^st November to 31st March including the wording from the Board’s policy of ‘opening one hour later and/or closing one hour earlier’ if there was no demand.

David Kinniburgh queried the term ‘acceptable behaviour’ in the children and young persons’ terms and asked if this could be removed. Mr Alderson said he was happy to do so.

Ms Mair clarified the points for consideration which were: the suggestions made by Mr Park regarding the areas/times for the children and young persons’ terms including the removal of ‘acceptable behaviour’ and the addition of a seasonal variation of 11.00am to 11.00pm from 1^st November and 31^st March.

The Board agreed to grant the application to include the points set out above.

Summary Sheet attached – Item 6(a)

The applicant wishes to vary the licence as follows:-

1) To extend the licensed area to include an external drinking area

2) Change of layout plan to show the external areas.

Summary Sheet attached – Item 7(a)

David Leishman, Solicitor, Campbeltown attended on behalf of the applicant and referred to the application which sought to include an external drinking area. Mr Leishman explained that the application had been continued from the previous meeting on 23^rd June 2020 so that an amended layout plan for the extended area could be submitted. He confirmed that Roads Services had no objections and requested that the application be granted subject to the required planning consent.

Eric Dearie, Licensing Standards Officer noted that the amended plan still included the area around the corner which was a concern at the previous meeting and although the Roads Department had no issues with it, it was worth noting.

The Vice Chair referred to the nib area and the area at the rear of the premises and queried what the Board was actually approving. Mr Leishman stated it was the nib area to the west which was the questionable part of the application as it was narrow but if there were any major issues he said his client would be happy to remove this area. The Vice Chair said he would not be happy to approve this area and enquired about the area at the rear.

Eric Dearie advised that this was a new amendment along the back of the premises accessed by a pavement. Mr Dearie asked Mr Leishman if the flat at the rear was part of the premises and if not, there may be a noise issue. Mr Leishman was unsure about this and could not be certain if it was used for residential access.

The Vice Chair said he would be happy to grant the section at Cross Street but suggested that the rear area be continued to the November meeting to find out about the residential matters.

Susan Mair, Depute Clerk advised that the Board could exclude the nib area and grant the section at Cross Street then continue the application if they wish or remove the nib area from the application.

Mr Leishman asked if the matter could be granted under delegated powers in order that the area could be used as soon as possible. Susan Mair advised that if the Board agreed in principle, then they could grant the application subject to planning consent being received.

The Vice Chair wanted clarification on the relevant permissions and the occupancy of the flats at the rear of the premises, therefore moved to grant the application, subject to the relevant planning consent, for the section at Cross Street, excluding the nib area; to continue consideration at a further meeting for the area at the rear subject to Roads approval and the confirmation of occupancy of the flats above the premises.

With no-else being otherwise minded, this became the decision of the Board.

A copy of the letter to the applicant together with letter from Police Scotland dated 23 March 2020 is attached.

Tarlok Singh attended. The Vice Chair explained that the matter was continued from the previous Board meeting on 23^rd June 2020 to enable Mr Singh to attend.

Sergeant Wendy Maginnis Police Scotland referred to the report (Appendix 3).

The Vice Chair asked if the matter could still be reviewed as the convictions had now been spent.

David Kinniburgh advised that at the time of the original review in June, the convictions were still live and as the matter was continued, it should still be considered.

Susan Mair, Depute Clerk said that the convictions had not been disclosed on the application form.

Mr Singh explained that he had been drinking the day before when he was stopped by Police Scotland. He added that someone else had filled in the form but genuinely thought the conviction had been spent. David Kinniburgh noted that the offence was in 2013, therefore Mr Singh might have mistakenly thought, as this was more than 5 years ago, the conviction was spent but stated this period was from the date of the conviction, not when the offence occurred.

The Vice Chair said that as Mr Singh had attended and the conviction was now spent, he was minded to grant the application.

With no-one else being otherwise minded, this became the decision of the Board.

A copy of the Festive Hours Policy 2019 is attached.

Susan Mair, Depute Clerk advised that an updated festive policy would normally be agreed at this time but, due to the current circumstances, the Board may wish to agree the policy subject to Government guidelines.

Richard Trail moved to adopt a policy subject to Government guidelines and restrictions.

David Kinniburgh agreed but asked that the Board’s Policy should be adhered to when submitting applications whereby they would require to be received 35 days prior to any event.

Having considered the foregoing the Board agreed to the new festive policy with the addition of ‘subject to Government guidelines and restrictions’ and ‘applications require to be submitted 35 days prior to the event’.

Alan Morrison, Regulatory Services Manager referred to his report (Appendix 4) which explained what had been carried out to ensure that premises were Covid safe. He advised that Police Scotland were regulating measures and as an Environmental Services approach, in terms of enforcement, it was working well. Mr Morrison added that there were a number of recommendations to consider.

Jean Moffat thought that rather than being informed of each incident, it would be more appropriate to be advised of any repeated breaches.

Mr Morrison advised that only repeated incidents would be reported to the Board as Environmental Services had its own enforcement measures to address individual issues.

David Kinniburgh thanked all parties for their ongoing work in relation to this matter. He referred to point C of the report and suggested that any issues arising be put to the Depute Clerk and himself in the first instance and they would then decide on the most appropriate next steps. It was noted that Point B had been picked up by the Licensing Standards Officers in their regular newsletters.

The Board agreed with David Kinniburgh’s suggestion.

The next Licensing Board Meeting will be held on 10^TH November 2020 at 11.00am.

The next meeting of the Licensing Board will be held by Skype on Tuesday 10^th

November 2020 at 11.00am.