Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

An apology for absence had been received from Councillor Torra, Councillor Proudfoot attended as her substitute.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes from the meetings held on 21 December 2023 were APPROVED.

To note the attached procedure which will be followed by the Licensing & Regulatory Sub-Committee, at the discretion of the Chairman, when considering the application at agenda item 5.

The hearing procedure was noted.

To determine the application for the review of the existing premises license for Cloony’s, 85 Bell Street Reigate.

The Chair, the other members of the Sub-Committee and officers present introduced themselves.

Mr Suraj Chopra, the Licensee was present with his associate Mr Ruben Burton.

The applicants Justin Haves and Maria Rudd from Environmental Protection were present, as were Ian Sandwell from Surrey Police.

Sam MacDonald, an objector, was present, representing Jo Cushing.

Representations

The Licensing Officer provided an introduction to the review of licence for Cloony’s, 85 Bell Street, Reigate, RH2 7AN, stating this was a review hearing for premises licence 23/02734/LICDPS which was granted on 18 August 2023 for 85 Bell Street, Reigate Surrey RH2 7AN, which began operating as ‘Cloony’s’ from October 2023 when the licence holder was granted a personal licence.

Since October 2023 three complaints of a statutory nuisance for noise were received by The Environmental Protection (EP) team. These were investigated and found to be substantiated. As a result, an Abatement Notice was served on Mr Chopra, the licence holder, on 11January 2024.

On Wednesday 18 January a meeting was arranged by Licensing for all interested parties at Cloony’s to discuss ways forward to stop the reported problems. As a result of this meeting a list of immediate actions were agreed with management. It was agreed that should these measures prove effective then they would be put forward as conditions to be added to the licence. Advice was given by EP regarding reducing noise emission from the premises.

However, as a result of routine checks EP established that the abatement notice had been breached and called for a review of the premises licence on the 1 February 2024.

During the 28-day period three representations were received by the licencing department. One from a Responsible authority Surrey Police. Licensing Officer Ian Sandwell from Surrey Police was here to speak on their representation.

Two from interested parties also made representations. One of those has asked a friend (Sam MacDonald) to attend on their behalf.

EP and the licence holders have continued to work on the initial actions list as a means of resolving the causes of the noise problems. As a result, they have agreed a list of conditions with the licence holder that have been passed to the Sub-Committee for their consideration when decision making.

The Environmental Health’s Environmental Protection Team Leader explained that he held a diploma in acoustics and noise control. Members would have seen from the accompanying hearing papers, on behalf of Environmental Health as a responsible authority, they called for a review of the premises licence for Cloonys. The officer took the papers submitted as read by the Sub-Committee

However, he gave a short account for everyone’s benefit.

This review was due to on-going noise nuisance and antisocial behaviour complaints from neighbours in the locality of Cloony’s. Environmental Health first started investigating noise nuisance complaints in October 2023. During their investigations they received an abundance of evidence to support noise issues that were occurring from Cloony’s. It was on 11th January, after review of data,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.