Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: Room 72, The Town Hall, Mulberry Place, 5 Clove Crescent, London, E14 2BG
Contact: Paul Ward, Democratic Services Tel: 020 7364 4207, E-mail: paul.ward@towerhamlets.gov.uk
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APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: None were received. |
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST To note any declarations of interest made by Members, including those restricting Members from voting on the questions detailed in Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act, 1992.
Minutes: None were made. |
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RULES OF PROCEDURE To note the rules of procedure which are attached for information. Minutes: The Rules of Procedure were noted. |
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MINUTES To confirm the minutes of the meetings of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 5 January and 9 January 2006. Minutes: The minutes of the Licensing Sub Committee meetings held on 5th and 9th of January 2006 were agreed as an accurate record. |
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ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION |
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Application for New Premises Licence: Boundary house, 2-4 Boundary Street, London E2 7JE (Report no LSC103/506) Minutes: Colin Perrins introduced the report which assessed an application for a licence for a new development intended to provide a small cinema, hotel and brasserie-style restaurant. The applicants Soho House UK Ltd, had obtained planning permission with a number of conditions, and copies of this were laid round.
Initial objections had come from local residents, Environmental Protection (noise pollution), Health & Safety and the fire brigade. However subsequent to a letter received from the applicant’s solicitor dated 3rd February which proposed a number of conditions to be included in the licence, the latter two had withdrawn their objections. Copies of this letter and associated acoustic and noise surveys, were also laid round.
Gabriele Popp stressed that the surrounding area was currently mostly a quiet residential one with little evening use or noise. The proposed development was bound to lead to this changing and in particular to additional noise and disruption from patrons’ cars and taxis. She was also worried about disruption from staff arriving and leaving, refuse collection and deliveries. Finally she was concerned at the potential for overlooking from the hotel rooms.
Kerry Sewell supported the previous objections and pointed out that the applicants also intended to develop a nearby site across the borough boundary with Hackney. She feared it would lead to a substantial increase in noise especially when the sliding doors at the front were open or tables on the street, and if customers were talking loudly on mobile phones.
Councillor Louise Alexander warned that there was a danger of the area turning gradually into nearby Shoreditch with its 24-hour bar culture. She was also concerned that these premises would not be accessible to the area’s Muslim community and to residents of the Boundary Estate.
Alkesh Solanki stated that although the applicants were clearly making efforts to avoid noise escaping from inside the building, Environmental Protection remained concerned that it would be extremely difficult to regulate the behaviour of customers upon egress and that additional nuisance would inevitably be caused.
The Chair and Legal Advisor pointed out that many of the matters being raised were dealt with principally under other regulatory regimes, eg planning and highways, and could only be addressed to a limited extent within the context of a licensing application.
Julian Stevens for the applicant, referred to the conditions already attached to the planning permission which he hoped would help address many of the fears expressed. For example conditions 2 & 3 regulated the times of building work and during which deliveries should take place respectively, while condition 4 covered the operating hours of the restaurant and cinema.
Most importantly, Condition 6 required that the applicant submit “a management plan detailing proposed means of ensuring that patrons leaving the premises do not cause undue disturbance to neighbouring occupiers”. This had to be approved by the local planning authority before the development could even start. Finally condition 7 required that noise arising from any new equipment be designed to be 10 decibels below the current lowest measured ... view the full minutes text for item 5a |