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Venue: Guildhall Members Lounge
Contact: Democratic Services Committee Manager
No. | Item |
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Appointment of a Chair Minutes: Councillor Bird was elected as Chair for the meeting. |
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Declarations of Interest Minutes: Councillor Ratcliffe
advised that he been nominated to become a City Council representative on the
Conservators of the River Cam, and would be attending his first meeting on
Thursday 27th April, but had no prior involvement with that
organisation. |
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Meeting Procedure Minutes: All parties noted the hearing
procedure. |
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Floating Cambar Hearing report PDF 229 KB Additional documents:
Minutes: The Licensing
Officer presented the report and outlined an application for a Premises Licence
under section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003 in respect of the Floating Cambar, Quayside, Bridge Street,
Cambridge. The details of the application were set out in the report. He advised that some late information had
been received from the applicant, which he tabled. John Adams, representing Conservators of the
River Cam, confirmed that he was happy with this late addition, and the
Sub-Committee Members took several minutes to read this information. Attention was drawn
to the proposed Conditions: Conditions
1-6 had been agreed between the Applicant and Cambridgeshire Constabulary;
Conditions 13-18 had been agreed between the Applicant and Environmental Health
Officers, and the other had been offered by the Applicant. It was confirmed that the proposed mooring
site, at Quayside, Bridge Street, was not in a Cumulative Impact Zone. Mr Brown, on behalf
of Ms Williams, made the following points as Applicant’s Representative: i.
Highlighted that this
was a mobile business operating from a punt, that would be selling alcoholic
beverages to other punts as they travel down the river; ii.
With regard to the
objection from Conservators of the River Cam, that the application does not
identify an operating base for the business in contravention of Conservancy
condition of registration, requiring all commercial punts to operate from one
of six recognised punt stations, it was suggested that the operating base and
related issues were not within the remit of the Licensing Committee. Conditions had been agreed with the
responsible authorities covering Health and Safety issues; iii.
With regard to the
Conservators’ other concern regarding operation of sales in practice, and the
potential for congestion, observed that there was precedent, namely the
Floating Wine Company, whose licence had been granted in 2011. There was no evidence that the operation of
that business had led to safety issues on the river; iv.
With regard to the
objection from King’s College, that the business would cause disruption on the
river by encouraging drinking, it was again stressed that appropriate
Conditions had been agreed with Cambridgeshire Constabulary and Environmental
Health; v.
Speculation as to
whether the business would have a positive or negative impact on punting in
Cambridge were outside the remit of the Licensing Sub-Committee; vi.
Suggested that
registration with the Conservators should not be a Condition as the exact legal
requirements were uncertain, and it would be unwise to make any application
conditional on such grounds. The Sub-Committee received a presentation from John Adams,
Acting River Manager, representing
Conservators of the River Cam, who were objecting to the application.
Issues raised in his presentation included: vii.
The requirement to
register with the Conservators was not a grey area legally, as all crafts on
the Cam had to be registered with the Conservancy, and the Conservancy
conditions were absolutely clear; viii. The concern was not about congestion on the river, but potential obstruction, breaching Conservancy By-law 12.1, which prohibits crafts from stopping in a manner that ... view the full minutes text for item 17/4/Lic |