Agenda and draft minutes

To appoint a Chairman for the meeting.

Councillor P. Smith chaired the meeting.

Report of the Licensing Officer on the application for a review of the premises licence currently in place at Colesdale Farm, Northaw Road West, Northaw.

Introduction and Procedure

The purpose of the meeting was to consider an application for a review of the premises licence in place at Colesdale Farm, Northaw Road West, Northaw. The licence had been in place since January 2020 and is held by Huds10 Ltd following a transfer of the premises licence from BJP Production to Huds10 Ltd in January 2022. The Applicant requested a review under the Licensing Act 2003 on the statutory grounds of:

·        Public safety

·        Prevention of public nuisance.

Documentary Evidence

The report of the Licensing Officer; the review application and supporting documents, along with written representations from relevant authorities, the Parish Council, a Ward Councillor, and local residents had been previously circulated. 

Report of the Licensing Officer

The Licensing Officer presented the report. The licence holder proposed a schedule of twelve music events between 3 July 2021 and 4 September 2021. Between 5^th July 2021 and 20^th September 2021, the Environmental Health Team received 200 complaints from local residents regarding events held at Colesdale Farm. Many residents cited multiple concerns when making a complaint but the most dominant complaint was that of alleged noise nuisance. This was followed by traffic management, anti-social behaviour, litter and health and safety concerns.

With a history of complaints made by Cuffley and Northaw residents during events held at Colesdale Farm in 2020 (which culminated in a licensing review) impacting upon the Environmental Team’s confidence in management, and given the proposed intensity of events for 2021, Environmental Health deployed officers to attend many of the events to monitor the delivery in line with the event management plan.

This monitoring also included Environmental Health employing an acoustic consultant Cambridge Acoustics, to determine the licence holder’s compliance with licensing conditions; evaluate the existing licensing conditions; and consider the acceptability of events and impact on nearby sensitive premises.

Repeated efforts by the Environmental Health Team to engage with the licence holder to remedy concerns during 2021 had been unsuccessful.  

Eighty-four formal written representations had been received in support of the review within the consultation period. Eight representations had been received against the premises licence review and in support of the premises Colesdale Farm and the premises licence.

The representations in support of the review were comprised of:

·        A representation from Hertfordshire Constabulary

·        A representation from Northaw and Cuffley Parish Council

·        A representation from a Ward Councillor

·        81 representations from residents of Northaw and Cuffley

The Applicant and Witnesses

The Applicant (the Environmental Health Team at Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council) was represented by Cheryl Brown, (Team Leader Public Health and Protection), who had provided the following witnesses:

·        Marcus Watts – Cambridge Acoustics

·        Terry Vincent – WHBC Environmental Health

·        Aimee McCormack – WHBC Environmental Health

·        Steve Wilding – WHBC Street Warden

The following points were made and noted during the Applicant’s address:

·        The concentrated delivery of events for nearly every weekend of the summer period intensified the complaints generated.

·        The SAT had not been satisfied with the participation nor contributions received from the Premises  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.