Agenda item

The Sub Committee considered an application for the grant of a time limited premises licence to allow the exhibition of films, indoors and outdoors, the provision of live music outdoors, the provision of recorded music, indoors and outdoors and the supply of alcohol ON the premises only at Lympstone Manor Hotel, Courtlands Lane, Exmouth, EX8 3NZ.

The applicant, present and entitled to make representations was Lympstone Manor Ltd, represented by Mr Steve Edwards, Operations Director and Mr Alexander McEwen, General Manager and DPS.

The applicant had no witnesses to call.

The Licensing Authority had received two representations from local residents who had given notice that they did not wish to attend the hearing.

The Licensing Authority had received representations from East Devon District Council’s Environmental Health Service and Exmouth Town Council’s Planning Committee, who were not present.

The Sub Committee’s legal advisor outlined the procedure for the meeting.

The Licensing Officer, Phillippa Norsworthy, summarised the application.  Since the publication of the report, a response to the Notice of Hearing had been received from a local resident and had been circulated to all parties.   The Police had reached an agreed position with the applicant.

Since the publication of the report, the applicant had come to an agreed position with the Environmental Health Service, details of which had been published with the report at Appendix D.  The applicant had produced a Noise Management Plan (NMP) to the satisfaction of the Environmental Health Officer which had been circulated to the Sub Committee members in advance of the meeting.  It had been agreed that music would stop at 11.00pm.

The Sub Committee had no questions for the Licensing Officer.

The applicant had no questions for the Licensing Officer but wished to clarify that the agreed position with the Environmental Health Service, as set out in the NMP, was to stop live music only at 11.00pm, but not recorded music.  

The applicant made the case for the application and highlighted the following points:

·        Up to 2,000 tickets were available for the event but to date only 400 had sold and the applicant considered it unlikely that actual numbers would reach anywhere near 2,000.

·        Event parking was restricted to 230 cars, and spaces had to be booked in advance; ticket buyers were made aware of this via the website, social media, and at the point of ticket purchase.  Those not arriving by car would be pedestrian, with access routes from Exmouth and Exeter on the cycle path and from the Rivermead Avenue bus stops.  There might also be a Dartline coach but this was yet to be confirmed. 

·        The applicant recognised the importance of correct traffic management with minimal disruption to local residents.  Event stewards would be positioned appropriately in order to syphon off event traffic via a one way system.  There would be no road closures.

·        WT Consultancy would be delivering an event Risk Management Plan.

·        One representation referred to a 12-hour period of live or recorded music; this would not be the case, since the music stage would not start until 5.00pm.

·        The music stage would be built in the bottom paddock, positioned in such a way that the sound would travel towards Exmouth rather than up the hill to the path of local residents.

·        The applicant had given careful consideration to all areas and the owner felt there was enough interest to host an event of this nature again in the future.

Members of the Sub Committee put questions to the applicant who made the following points in reply:

·        On exit, event traffic would be directed down Courtlands Lane, right at Longbrook Lane and out at the traffic lights by Saddlers Arms, meaning that traffic would miss out the village, for the most part.

·        The music between 5.00pm to 11.00pm would be a combination of live bands and recorded music with a DJ. 

·        In the event that people arrive in cars having not pre-booked parking, stewards would be briefed to direct them around the one way system and advise them to park in Exmouth, from where they could catch a bus to Lympstone.

·        At the meeting of Safety Advisory Group, the applicant would agree with the Police Licensing Officer the date by which the number of SIA stewards would be agreed, based on expected numbers attending the event.

·        The event had run previously in 2017 and 2018, albeit on a smaller scale; the applicant’s representatives were not aware of any complaints or concerns arising from these events, or from other events that had taken place at the venue with outside music.

The legal representative stated that he was not aware of any complaints for Lympstone Manor, since it was licensed.

In a closing statement, the applicant’s representative reiterated that they were very aware of the need to respect local residents and the licensing objectives, and they would ensure the event was staffed accordingly.

The Chair thanked everyone for attending and advised that the decision would be notified in writing within five working days.