Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 18 June 2025 were agreed and signed as a true record.

Guidance is available online to Councillors and co-opted members on making declarations of interest

There were no declarations of interest.

Information on matters of urgency is available online

There were no matters of urgency.

To agree any items to be dealt with after the public (including the Press) have been excluded. Thereare no itemswhich officersrecommendshould be dealtwithin thisway.

There were no confidential or exempt items.

The meeting was a hearing under the Licensing Act 2003.

The Chair introduced the members of the Sub Committee and the Officers present.

The Sub Committee’s Legal Advisor, Giles Salter, outlined the procedure for the meeting.

The Sub Committee considered the application from a member of the public for a review of the premises licence under Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003 at The Anchor Inn, Old Fore Street, Sidmouth EX10 8LP.

The applicant for the review, present and entitled to make representations, was Mr Steven Chalkley.  Mr Chalkley was accompanied by Mr Stephen Spencer.

Present and entitled to make representations was the premises licence holder Mr Trevor Fudge.  Mr Fudge was accompanied by Ms Michelle Anning.

Also present and entitled to make representations was Ms Denise Thomas.

The Licensing Officer highlighted the following points in the report:

·        With regard to the dray work, the premises licence holders had now agreed to move the barrels to an alternative location during Sidmouth Folk Week.  The alternative location was at the furthest point from the applicant for the review’s property;

·       Section 1.10 of the report [page 8] read as follows: “restricting dray work in the vicinity of bordering properties, limiting this to between 18:00 – 21:00 daily.”  This section should read: “dray work in the vicinity of bordering properties should be restricted from 6pm to 9am daily.”

·       The premises licence holders had confirmed that the maximum capacity of the beer garden was 547 people, however, the premises operated on the maximum number of 500 people.

In response to questions from Members it was noted that any noise complaints would be dealt with by Environmental Health rather than Licensing.  An unwritten noise management plan was in place for the premises under review and the Environmental Health Officer had discussed this with the premises licence holder.  It was noted that there was no requirement to have a noise management policy in place.  Two complaints had been received in the previous year, one of which was from the applicant for the review.

The applicant for the review, Mr Chalkley, made his case and advised the Sub Committee that he had lived at his property, which shared a boundary with The Anchor Inn, since 2006.  The applicant noted that noise levels had increased over the years, and he had made a complaint in September 2023, to which the Environmental Health Officer had responded.  The applicant for the review was of the opinion that EDDC had wrongly interpreted the recommended noise levels in the Noise Council Code of Practice.  Local residents did not want to affect business at The Anchor Inn, but did want unnecessary noise levels to be lowered.  A noise limit of 65 decibels would be acceptable to residents.

The Environmental Health Officer advised that the noise management plan set an external decibel level of 70.  In response to a question from Members, the Environmental Health Officer advised that, in his view, residents would only just notice a reduction of 5 decibels.   The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.