Councillor Robert Evans was appointed Chairman for the meeting.

No declarations of interest were reported.

1. SUMMARY OF THE DECISION

  The Licensing Sub-Committee having  carefully considered the application for a variation

  of the premises licence at  KENT COUNTY CRICKET GROUND BECKENHAM BR3 1RL

The Licensing Sub-Committee has made the following decision having regard to:

-  the four licensing objectives,

-  the Council’s current Statement of Licensing Policy

-  Guidance issued under the Licensing Act 2003; The Secretary of State Guidance issued under Section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003 (As amended),

-  Written and oral representations by the Applicant, 

-  Written and oral representations by Local Resident (s),

-  Written and oral representations by Public Health(s),

-  Written and oral representations by the Ward Councillor(s),

The decision of the Licensing Sub-Committee was as follows:

The Licensing Sub- Committee decided to Grant the application for a variation of the premises licence subject to the agreed amendments at the Hearing on the 11th March 2020.

2.   THE APPLICANT’S CASE:

The representative for the applicant - Kent County Cricket Club (KCCC) Alan Hilliker (Licence Holder), mentioned that the applicant had been a licence holder for 10 years and had been with the KCCC for 15 years. Two other staff of KCCC attended the hearing and assisted when explanation or clarification was required.

The Licence Holder gave a brief history of the KCCC (see also paragraph 7 below), and mentioned that the application was beyond the cricket activities of the Club. In addition to the original application, a document with a summary of a revision to the application was submitted by the applicant before the meeting. The summary document was circulated to all parties.

The KCCC licence holder stated that in Canterbury, KCCC had a similar varied licence, which had been implemented successfully; this was echoed by their CEO, who mentioned that KCCC was celebrating 150 years of operations. The proposed changes like those in the variation were part of the Club’s plan for ongoing growth.

Kent Country Cricket Club requested 6 outdoor concerts/films/plays per year, on a maximum of 2 consecutive nights (which was an amendment from the application: 4 music concerts to include 2 films / plays).

  That the events would be finished by 22:30 (amendment from the application  from 23:00).

A discussion followed regarding the sale of alcohol and the applicant mentioned that ideally they would prefer to have a 22:30 finish time for the events and for the sale of alcohol.

  The applicant listened and responded to questions from various parties, and endeavoured to try and find a way forward in addressing some of the objectors’ concerns. The applicant agreed to the suggested amendments at the hearing.

3.   OBJECTIONS AND SUPPORT TO THE LICENCE:

There were written and oral representations from local residents and oral representation from three local residents. 

It was noted that there were no objections from the Metropolitan Police.

The Council’s Public Health Team as a responsible authority objected to the  application, on the grounds that an Events Management Plan had not been submitted by the applicant. The applicant agreed to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.