Agenda and minutes

Councillor Bird was appointed as Chair for the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made.

All parties noted the procedure.

Councillor Clough (Ward Councillor) asked if the:

        i.          Applicant could be questioned?

       ii.          Meeting could be recorded on someone’s phone and Chat GBT used to edit this?

The Legal Advisor said the:

        i.          Meeting would not be livestreamed due to staff issues. However it was a public meeting and people could attend in person if they wished.

       ii.          Meeting could be recorded (by the public) but Chat GBT was not an authorised transcript. The meeting minutes were the official record of the meeting.

     iii.          Chair could allow questions in a way that allowed the meeting to proceed, but cross examination would not be allowed.

The Environmental Health and Licensing Support Team Leader presented the report and outlined the application.

Questions

The Environmental Health Manger made the following points in response to questions from Members and the public:

      i.          There was no formal process to surrender licences. A licence holder could write to the Licensing Department to say they wished to surrender licences.

     ii.          It was implicit in the application today that old Rugby Club licences would be removed. Activities linked to the old licences would be undertaken on the new licence - if granted – depending on conditions.

   iii.          Page 12 of the agenda pack listed responsible authorities who had been consulted. Not all had responded. There was no history of issues/complaints linked to the premises, so few comments were expected from responsible authorities.

   iv.          Noise levels were considered. Limits were set out in the Officer’s report. This did not limit the number of events or location, just quantified noise levels that were acceptable.

Applicant

Mr Hague (Chairman of Cambridge Rugby Club) made the following points:

      i.          Spoke in support of the application.

     ii.          Referred to page 9 of the agenda pack. The number of events had been amended to three large, four medium and nine small.

   iii.          Made specific reference to conditions, code of conduct, traffic management plan, noise management and parking management.

Member Questions

Mr Barker (Licensing Consultant) made the following statements in response to Members’ questions:

      i.          The proposal covered the whole rugby club site/grounds.

     ii.          The Rugby Club could be used for rugby and non-rugby events. The Applicant would clarify these in future and how they would be controlled by conditions. The Applicant would put clear limits on how many non-rugby uses could occur such as large events.

   iii.          Conditions from the old licences would transfer into the new ones, plus some additional ones. So, if the new licence was granted, there would be more conditions than in effect (now) under the old licences. The new conditions would be more stringent and stricter compared to ones in place for historic events, particularly noise and traffic management conditions.

   iv.          Car parking on site would vary between events. There were two hundred and eighty spaces on site and some temporary pitches that could be used. More traffic control would be in place via new conditions compared to old licence ones.

    v.          The Rugby Club engaged with residents via a quarterly newsletter and calendar of events. Communication could be online through the website and social media; or posters/banners. Mr Hague as Club Chairman hoped to improve communications with neighbouring residents in future, and hoped liaison would influence how events were run in future.

   vi.          The demographics of event visitors varied on a case by case basis, but were generally family friendly. The Club aimed for low impact events on neighbouring residents rather than raves etc.

 vii.          Licensing conditions set out the minimum notice period for events the Rugby Club should give residents, such as a letter drop twenty  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/23/Lic