Licensing Act Sub-Committee - Thursday 12 December 2024, 11:00am - Folkestone & Hythe webcasting

Licensing Act Sub-Committee
Thursday, 12th December 2024 at 11:00am 

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  1. Mr Alex Baker
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Mr Alex Baker - 0:00:00
Good morning. We will move to the first item, which is the election of chair. Can I have any nominations, please?
Cllr Mike Blakemore - 0:00:08
Let's nominate counselor Cooper. That's sorry. Okay. It's counselor Thomas. I'll second that
Mr Alex Baker - 0:00:16
Thank you. Can I have a show of hands?
Thank you, counselor Thomas. You've been elected chair. Can I ask you to read out the statement in front of you?
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:00:25
Okay, good morning and welcome to the Licensing Act Subcommittee.
This meeting will be webcast live to the internet.
For those who do not wish to be recorded or filmed, you'll need to leave the chamber.
For members, officers and others speaking at the meeting, it is important that the microphones
are used so viewers on the webcast and others in the room may hear you.
Would anyone with a mobile phone please switch it to silent mode as they can be distracting.
I would like to remind members that although we all have strong opinions on matters under
consideration, it is important to treat members, officers and public speakers with respect.
Thank you.
So the next item on the agenda is declarations of interest.

1 Election of Chair for the meeting

Any declarations of interest?
None, sir.
Not from me.
Cllr Mike Blakemore - 0:01:13
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:01:14
No declarations.

3 Declarations of lobbying

And declarations of lobbying, we have a sheet to complete.
No lobbying received.
Cllr Tony Cooper - 0:01:21
Cllr Mike Blakemore - 0:01:23
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:01:25
I've had one email and I've had no lobbying.
Thank you.

4 An application for a Premises Licence in respect of: The Dracula Parrott, 133 Sandgate Road, Folkestone, CT20 2BL

Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:01:31
I'd like to hand over to John now to take us through the application for a premises
license in respect of the Dracula Paris 133 Sandgate Road, Folkestone.
And John if you could just take us through that please.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good morning everybody.
John Bickel - 0:01:45
An application for a premises licence in respect of the Dracula Parrot 133, Sangay Road, Folkestone
CT22BL.
This report outlines the application made by Mr John Biggs for a premises licence for
this premises.
The licensing subcommittee must determine the outcome for the application.
The committee is asked to consider the application for a premises licence.
When considering the application, the committee must ensure they fully promote the licensing
objectives.
The committee is obliged to have regard to the revised
National Section 182 guidance and the Council's own licensing
policy.
The licensing committee is asked to note the contents of report
DC 2445 and determine the application.
The options for determining the application are set out in
Section 4.
The Licensing Act 2003 provides that the sound or supply of
alcohol on and off the premises and other licensable activities
must be authorised by a premises licence. The premises licence holder must comply with
the four licensing objectives. The prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, the
prevention of public nuisance and the protection of children from harm. On the 24th of October
2024, Mr John Biggs submitted a completed application for a new premises licence at
the Dracula Parrot. The application is for the supply of alcohol for on and off sales
Monday to Thursday 1100 hours to 2300 hours, Friday to Saturday 1100 hours to midnight
and Sunday 1100 hours to 22 .30.
Recorded music is also asked for Friday and Saturday nights from 2300 hours to midnight.
The opening hours are Monday to Thursday 1100 hours to 23 .30, Friday and Saturday 1100 hours
to midnight 30 and Sunday 1100 hours to 2300 hours.
The application is for music to be indoors.
Due to the Live Music Act 2012, live music and recorded music were deregulated and are
not considered licensable activities between 0800 hours and 2300 hours where there is an
alcohol license in place.
Therefore those activities are not shown above.
The application for a premises license can be seen at Appendix 1.
Follies held a premises license to sell alcohol on sales only between 1200 hours and 2300
hours between November 2014 to September 2020.
The Lees lift escape rooms occupied the premises from September 2020 until May 2024.
The license has never been transferred and has now lapsed.
We've had relevant representation, one from planning, and we've had five external
representations from members of the public, and they can be found at Appendix 2.
The Licensing Subcommittee has the following options.
To grant the application, to grant the application with amendments, add conditions to the license,
or reject whole or part of the application.
The committee is asked to note that it may not add conditions or amend the license merely
as it considers it desirable to do so.
The Committee must only consider evidence that relates to the four licensing objectives
and any conditions added must promote the licensing objectives.
The Committee members are advised to read the new guidance thoroughly.
Your attention is drawn to paragraphs 9 .42, 9 .43 and 9 .44 in respect of the determination
of the application.
Additionally, members are advised to refer to Section 10 about imposing conditions.
It is good practice that if they propose to apply conditions that they should be discussed
with the applicant prior to the determination to ensure that they are proportionate.
I would also just like to add that the applicant is also aware that a change of planning or
use is required and an application has been submitted to the planning team and they have
requested an acoustic report from the applicant
before the application can be determined as well.
And that's with planning.
Thank you.
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:06:08
Okay, so I'll ask my panel members
if they have any questions for John, first of all.
Anything in terms of what's been said so far?
No, it's fine, thank you.
Cllr Tony Cooper - 0:06:16
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:06:20
Have representations today.
So again, I think if we go to planning first,
I don't think planning are actually here.
In which case we'll go to the resident applications.
So again we've got a number of those this morning.
Who should we say first?
Would you like to speak first?
If you state your name and where you're from.
John Bickel - 0:06:49
Microphone D - 0:06:49
Hopefully this is working.
Good morning my name is Jenny Wilson.
I live in Playdough Court, which is nearby this development, this suggestion going in.
I have objected to this on a number of grounds.
If I can start with challenging some of the things put forward that I think are relevant.
There is the assumption that we are a town centre.
We are not in Playdough Gardens.
This is not really a town centre.
There's a comment, there's despite a few residential buildings.
I've actually mapped out where residential areas are.
I can give it to you, you can take a look.
The blue basically is all residential.
This is the proposed license location.
It is surrounded by residential.
So we are not a town centre.
I don't know that anybody who lives there would agree that we are.
So I would like to challenge that in here.
I don't think we're close proximity to the high street either.
Just above us in Sandgate Road, all development for commercial stuff stops and it is purely residential.
We are basically betwixt and between.
We are neither wholly residential or wholly commercial.
but it is very light commercial in that area.
I think we all agree that it would be great
to have a music venue in Folkestone.
However, I think it's vital that it goes in the right place
and I genuinely do not believe this is the right place.
I may be prejudiced, I live there.
I'm gonna have to live with it if it gets approved.
So I understand that.
I think if there's a comment here, if there are claims of existing noise or disorder problems,
specific evidence.
There was live music, not live music, sorry, recorded music approved at the Hamlet Hotel
a couple of years ago when that was open.
It caused mayhem.
It was extraordinarily loud.
There were a number of, the council received
endless complaints about it.
In the end, fortunately that ended.
But as an example of that area and the disturbance
it causes, that was a perfect example.
Why, calling police to the problems caused by
late night noise.
It is very hard to get the police to come out within
the time scale that that noise is going on.
That's why we don't call them often.
You've got, when people come up,
I am a big supporter of live music venues
and have been for years.
I know how people behave when they leave those premises.
I was one of them.
You tend to be louder than normal. You've been listening to loud music.
Live music is always loud.
I have never known a live music gig that didn't make your ears buzz at least for a few minutes.
You are louder than normal.
You are leaving the premises at midnight, 12 .30 on some occasions.
You're going to be loud. You're going to be drinking.
And this is going to be multiplied by, I don't know what the capacity of this place is, but
if it's going to be viable it's got to be at least 125 people.
So that dispersal of people in that area is going to be a huge impact on the people who
live there in noise, disturbance, there will be cars involved.
There's a comment here about many of our patrons will not be driving but many of them will we've all heard of the designated driver
You know there's going to be cars involved it will increase
Hugely the noise and disruption in that area
I've said why we don't call the police because it's incredibly hard to get them out and the
noise is gone within 10 minutes sometimes.
Sometimes it's a lot more because people are drunk and they tend to get rowdy.
We have experience also of people leaving late night from the scar bar which is further
away but it still provides evidence of disruption of people leaving places that are open.
We experienced that as well.
Other comments here that are a worry.
Recorded music is unlikely to cause issues.
given the distance to nearby properties.
If you look at that map I've drawn out,
we are 20 feet from that premises,
and that includes bedrooms.
It is a very short distance.
It says that access, rear access,
will be limited to daytime use only.
So if we've got live music,
and the license allows for live music from 11 o 'clock in the morning right the way round.
You've got double doors open onto the smoking area stroke garden.
I cannot see how that isn't going to be a massive intrusion.
What else can I tell you?
Crime and disorder worries.
We do have that problem in our area.
The police are called when it becomes obvious the issue isn't going to move on rapidly.
I cannot give you any proof of those.
I'm not always the one whose call to the police is recorded.
but I can tell you it does happen.
I'd also like to put in a comment that,
because I live in Playdale Court,
Playdale Court, there was permission given
to build that place for over 60s.
And people bought there in good faith
that they were buying an appropriate place in an appropriate location.
I would look to the council to maintain the area's suitability for this development
by refusing this license.
I think it's appropriate.
So, just, I'll shut up now.
I'm not against the music venue, I really am not.
I love live music
but it has to be in the right place.
And I genuinely don't think this is it.
So, thank you for listening to me.
I'm Stephen West.
Thank you. Would you mind turning your microphone off first, please?
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:15:08
All right, go on.
Microphone E - 0:15:10
I'm Stephen West. I live in Playdale Hall as well.
I'll show you this picture.
You'll see the back elevation of our building
and where the car is, is the rear of where the premises is.
Oh, sorry.
I'll let you have a look at that if you want to take the phone.
Now, on this elevation alone, as Jenny has said,
there are 48 residents all over the age of 60,
somewhere in the 70s, 80s, one is even 100 years old.
On that elevation alone, 10 bedrooms overlook that
and the town centre car park, as you know the area.
This is the proposed smoking vaping area,
where they're going to open these doors and let people go out there to smoke.
I would imagine if that happens at night,
people are going to try and gate crash through there,
unless there's a fence to actually physically stop them going in.
I think they're not going to be able to control that back entrance.
They'll have one person on the front.
They won't be able to control who comes in and who goes out,
whether they take alcohol with them or not.
People are going to be out there late at night making all sorts of noises,
screaming and shouting.
I live on the other elevation, the Shakespeare Terrace elevation,
and I quite often go to the Scuba Bath.
I've probably been there 20, 30 times in the last 18 months,
but I'm usually at home by 11 o 'clock.
But I can tell you in the summer, I know exactly where the noise is coming from.
It's coming from the scuba bar when people come out at two or three in the morning
and they come down Shakespeare Terrace in order to disappear into the town centre
or into the railway station or taxi ranks or whatever.
And the noise is horrendous every night of the week,
not just Friday or Saturday, it's every night of the week.
I can only imagine that the scuba bar people have said in the past,
we'll do our best to make sure that people don't leave the premises making a lot of noise,
don't leave the premises carrying bottles or glass or drinking containers,
but they do and they quite often get smashed in the street.
We often hear fights.
It's a waste of time calling the police.
The police wouldn't be there for an hour and it would have all gone by then.
and that we put up with every night of the year,
but the summer is far worse than during the winter months.
I can imagine this is going to be exactly the same.
Despite what they might say, and I'm in agreement with Jenny,
you have designated drivers.
I used to go to nightclubs years ago. My brother never drunk.
He used to drive us all and park as close to the club as possible
and then we'd all come out.
And you forget about the noise that you're creating,
you forget about it's a residential area and you're keeping people awake.
This is going to happen here.
We've got Town Centre car park directly behind this place.
People are going to park there.
They're going to either try and get in the back,
or if you don't put a fence up,
you're going to have people try and gate crash through the back.
So, as I said, ten people alone on that face of the building
have bedrooms that back onto that area.
That's really all I've got, sir.
Okay, thank you very much Mr. West.
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:18:33
And the next, please if you could state your name and then your concerns please.
Microphone F - 0:18:42
Right, good morning Chairman, morning members and thanks for inviting us to come along and
address you personally because this is an extremely important application and has vast
implications as you've just heard from the other two speakers.
I was in the entertainments and club.
Hospitality industry was 35 odd years so I'm not anti -drink.
I had a club in Folkestone and it was a business club and we never closed.
It never stayed open until later than 11 .30.
But to start with, I've written numerous notes about being in the wrong location.
133 Sanguette Road is at the top end of Sanguette Road
near Christchurch Gardens,
not as described by the applicant in their letter.
That said, they described 133 Sanguette Road
as located in a bustling town center area.
Also, they said, the location is primarily a town center,
not a residential area,
despite a few residential buildings nearby.
Now Jenny's plan and map will dispose
of that comment completely.
They also said, living in a close proximity to a high street inherently involves some
degree of noise which is a natural aspect of town centre life.
No it isn't Mr Chairman.
It is not what people expect when living in a town.
Yes there are bars, yes there are restaurants, but we often sit in this chamber at the licensing
forum saying we'd like all licenses to stop at 11 .30, allowing people to clear the building
by 12, 12 .30 and go home.
I would just like to reinforce what has just been said about what happened at closing time.
It doesn't matter how good your door staff are or anyone else, when people get out they
are on their own.
There is no one telling them to behave there.
And what happens we get the cumulative effect.
As these bars close the ones that say 12, 12 .30 they make their way to the scuba bar
has a license till 1 .30.
They clear that building at about 2.
I live on the Lees and a building on the Lees.
And they then leave that building,
highly inebriated, and make their way down the Lees
or down Sanget Road or down Playville, as you just heard,
making their way to the party bar in Tom Tine Street,
which is open till 3 .30.
The police, they do turn out
because I have the records here
freedom of information requests, how many times they attend the party bar in Ton Ty Street.
Mr Pickle knows about that.
Also the number of times they attend the scuba bar.
This results in numerous times the police are dealing with fights, attacks on buildings.
If they get refused at the party bar, they make their way back up the old high street
or Tontine Street, smashing the windows in the shops because they're so frustrated.
So this is not correct at all to say that it's in the town centre.
It's located, as you've heard, in a quiet top end of Sanget Road, surrounded by residential
and professional properties and a few specialised shops and quiet restaurants.
We don't get any trouble from the restaurants.
One of them is open till 12 I think.
The applicant proposed to use the outdoor area at the rear of 133 Sanguette Road for
seating and smoking which will have a significant noise effect as you just heard on Play -dle
Court, Blocker Flatsch which is 30 metres or 10 metres as I've just advised on the
nearest corner, White Cliffs Flatsch 100 metres away, the Carton Hotel 100 metres away.
Even with the doors closed, the constant access to the spoken area will cause disturbance
each time the door is opened.
In summer, the doors are likely to be permanently opened, allowing the music to be heard and
to be intrusive to all the affected surrounding properties.
If it's open until 12pm Friday and Saturday, this will mean noise nuisance, part of what
you're meant to be protecting with all due respect under the licensing protocol and the
neighborhood, only the noise nuisance of this premises, but also from people exiting premises
for at least a 30 to 45 minutes after closing time. That's breach in the licensing Act 2003
amended 2005 principle 2 preventing public nuisance.
Being told there will be two bouncers on the front door to comfort is no comfort to people
living in the area as you just heard who will suffer from noisy groups making their way
to other premises with extended licenses, scuba bar, party bar, etc.
We respectfully ask you to note Article 1, Protocol 1 of the UK Human Rights Act 1998.
A. The right to the quiet enjoyment of people's homes and surroundings.
B. Sufficient sleep to ensure that their health and general wellbeing is not being compromised
due to an imbalance between the promotion and development of business and those that
live and work in the area.
The Anti -Social Behaviour of Crime and Policing Act 2014, which this Council has adopted,
supports these rights as a primary consideration for local authorities addressing complaints
of the like or the like.
The introduction of a punk rock metal scar and goth live act pub, it's not a bar, it's
pub with live music venue into the residential area will cause major disturbances to residents
living in the three large residential boxer flats and numerous private residence apartments
and flats close nearby.
The applicant's intention, stationed in the Kent messenger to attract people from all
over Kent is a little bit scary.
This undertaking is not a quiet restaurant or a bar.
This is a full -grown music pub venue, which, as has been said, is a splendid idea for Folkestone.
We are the first music town, but it should definitely not be in a residential area, and
I wish them well elsewhere.
The kink, drug and alcohol strategy, right, that the council, this council, has signed
up to.
And their main theme is from harm to hope.
These are pertinent to what we're talking about.
Andrew Rush emailed, we are extremely pleased that folks from the United District Council
and members of the working party looking into reducing the alcohol supply chain as part
of the KCC public health strategy.
We totally support that.
I do live in the Lees but I'm also the chairman of the Lees Resident Association who represents
500 to 600 people along the Lees and also the chairman of the Whitecrest Resident Association
who live, as you've just heard, 100 yards away.
There is a total of 398 premises licensed,
this is from Andrew Rush, to sell alcohol in the district,
and 236 located in Folkestone.
We would say this is an enormous amount
for a town the size of Folkestone.
Folkestone, this is a serious issue.
I know we're talking about a licensed application,
but licensed applications involve alcohol
and people will excessively drink.
I was in it for 35 years, so I can assure you of that.
Folks need to second only to fan it in alcohol -related mortality deaths.
That is scary. I've got all the figures here. That is scary.
We've got a major problem.
Could it possibly be right to add another alcohol supply chain,
knowing all of the above,
and the council being working towards reducing the chain?
We understand you cannot alter the licensing legislation as we've heard, 2003, maybe 2005,
but you can interpret and decide on its implementation.
The main purpose of the Licensing Act 2000... I'm not lecturing, so please don't think I am.
The main purpose of the Licensing Act 2003, 2005, is secure public safety,
prevent public nuisance, protecting and involving public health,
all I've covered, and protecting children and young persons from harm.
It is only a few months ago that Dover District Council turned down an identical application
to this, saying it could be a good business but wrong location.
I have those planning reports if you want to see them.
So therefore, we respectfully ask you to follow their precedent and judge this the same as
good idea but definitely the wrong place.
This is not just a bar, this is not a restaurant.
This is a full -blown music, entertainment, fully licensed bar.
And I know what will happen because it always happens.
They get a license till 12 and then in a year they'll come back and say,
well we want one o 'clock and then we want 1 .30 etc.
So it's down to you our representatives, councillors,
and we ask you to make the decision in favour of the residents of the area where this proposal
is located.
Thank you very much.
Would you mind just doing your work for us?
Thank you.
That's very kind of you.
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:28:27
Thank you.
OK.
No, sure.
So, thank you.
If I could ask the applicant now to speak or applicant's representative.
Yeah, that's all.
Sorry.
Yeah, you'll have to use the next mic on it.
Microphone C - 0:28:45
Microphone C - 0:28:49
Microphone C - 0:29:09
I'd like to start by addressing some of the concerns that have been raised here today.
First of all, the nature of the area.
The diagram that was passed around to you, well we could see from here that some of the
buildings that were coloured in blue were clearly on the main high street, the Sandgate
Road, on both sides of that.
And those are not residential buildings, those are commercial properties that have residences
above them.
This is the town centre.
To say that one isn't close to the main High Street while complaining about proximity to
a building which fronts onto the main High Street.
I'm afraid that seems to be a bit of a contradiction.
In terms of crime, we have a table which we can pass around actually.
We have created from the police website and basically they group crimes that have been
reported into hotspots for the locations and what they show us is that the crimes that
are happening in the area are not grouped around bars and pubs which you would expect
if they were the cause of the problems.
In fact it's roughly even split.
The table we've got shows the figures for scuba, harveys and chambers, clurce's hot
spots and the three hotspots that are our long play -doh gardens currently and it's an
even split between the two.
over three months from July, August and September.
The parking issue, I mean, there is an MPC, a 40 space MPC car park
right behind the property. It shouldn't cause any parking issues.
In terms of people coming and going at night, again, if one chooses to live next to an MPC car park
which is open all night.
That is part and parcel again of living in the town centre.
The noise concerns, we have agreed actually as part of our change of use application
with the planning office not to host live music events
until we have had a noise assessment
which will involve taking samples of the soundproofing
that we intend to install to assess its absorption rate and see what impact that would have on
residents, at which point we would make a further change of use application once we
have that information for noise assessment for the planning team.
We...
Yeah, also there is... The next issue is that there is...
There were a lot of concerns raised about the back area.
All of which, I'm afraid, are speculation and all of which are wrong.
We have actually already spoken to the last two people
about we don't intend to actually open that during the night at all.
We would only have it open during the summer,
somewhere for people to sit outside.
We may not even do that. We may have people at the front instead.
We don't intend to use it as a smoking or vaping area.
We certainly wouldn't be having the doors open
while there was music events happening.
We've already spoken about we would not have speakers outside, and we wouldn't be
opening those doors even for access to people apart from disability access where we intend
to actually have a special doorbell, then we would give access to that property for
wheelchair users through that door.
I'm sorry could you let the applicant finish and then we'll ask the questions from then
on.
OK thank you.
Actually article one of the human rights act does not say peaceful enjoyment of the home
peaceful enjoyment of his possessions, and goes on,
No one should be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest
and subject to the conditions provided by the law and the general principles of international law.
Without that alteration, the article is clearly about unlawful state confiscation of goods
and has nothing to do with noise. There is no human rights provision
guaranteeing peace and quiet in the home.
We tend to open in music being by offering a different experience than other nightlife in town.
And many people are very excited about this across Folkestone and in the surrounding areas including Dover.
People often stop us in the street to ask about progress and expect it's time to go for opening.
Reference was made to retired people and retirees, but quite many of them are retired people
who are very excited about this, including a couple who live opposite our venue, very
close to it.
Let's not forget that people who are retired now does include the first generation of punks
and there are a great number of music enthusiasts of that age in the area.
The area does have bars and venues around it already.
reference was made to it being close to residents only area to the west of town, but there is
one bar harvest between our proposed premises and the area already.
Parking again.
We would also be utilizing the courtyard area for deliveries, so there should be no impact
on parking there.
We also intend to operate a strict dress code policy banning clothing types which we associate
with violence and drug crime and will cooperate with other businesses and the police over
the permanent barring when necessary and prosecution of individuals.
Also there does seem to be quite a lot of speculation about the crime of public disorder events
in terms of them being associated with drink and with alcohol
and if there are alcohol related to that has come from pubs.
Alcohol, let's not forget, many of those licensed premises
which are referred to in Folkestone are supermarkets and high -fee shops
If there is containers of alcohol left on the street,
there is more likely to have come from those than from bars,
where people are not allowed to take the alcohol outside.
I'll pass the table around to the committee
that shows the non -correlation between the bars
and the presence of bars and the location of bars
and the crimes that have been committed,
which the ones we have shown are public disorder,
anti -social behaviour, environmental sex crimes.
We feel that the future of Folkestone lies in incorporating and developing
the Council's plans for the world's first music town
with as much nightlife and bars and music venues as possible,
to enable the town to properly capitalise on the growth of the south -east coast
as a tourist destination and a desirable place to live.
We feel that we can be a part of that story
and we hope we're opening a music theme drinking establishment
to have a hand in bringing it to the Council's vision of Foxton
as a thriving and vibrant community.
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:37:01
Thank you very much.
We don't have no other representations, John.
So I'll ask my fellow panel members if they have any questions for the applicant
based on what we've been told.
Cllr Mike Blakemore - 0:37:17
Some reference was made to the capacity of the buildings.
I wonder if you could enlighten us to what you expect that capacity to be. Thanks.
Microphone C - 0:37:28
We've had one visit from the fire marshals already
and they said... Was it 60 or 90?
They said 60 was the likely capacity,
according to where the fire doors come out of the hour.
Cllr Mike Blakemore - 0:37:40
One other question was the live music.
Am I right in thinking that will only take place in the lower area of the premises?
Yes, that's planned only for the basement area, which that's actually 20 metres from
Microphone C - 0:37:53
the Playdale Gardens and there's obviously 20 metres of earth between that area and the
building.
And again we will be getting a noise assessment done once we're into the property before we
contemplated hosting any live music and getting another change of use planning application
through.
Cllr Mike Blakemore - 0:38:14
And finally from me, smoking, so where will smoking and vaping take place?
On the high street.
Councillor Cooper.
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:38:30
Thank you, Chair.
Cllr Tony Cooper - 0:38:32
Yeah, I've got a couple of questions if I may.
I see on your plan here, presumably then the first floor is where that's going to be the
most of the activity, is that correct?
I know the first floor is where the bar will be.
Basically there will be background music.
Music events will be intended for the basement.
OK. So all the music events will be in the basement?
Yeah.
I see on your plan that you've got disabled toilets on the first floor
or the ground floor etc.
So how would a disabled person in a wheelchair for example
access to music venue in the basement?
Would they be excluded from the premises?
No, we have two potential plans for that, Phil.
One of which, there is a potential to put a ramp in,
coming from the front area to the left.
There is a potential for a ramp going down into the basement area.
We also plan to have video live feeds going from the basement
up into the first floor area, which can be accessed,
disability accessed from the rear.
And can you tell me then, in respect of what happens during the year, I mean, for example,
you want a license between 11 and 11.
Yeah, okay, what happens, it's, I mean, we've all been kids, I mean, as you said before,
which was a good point, the majority of people going to these places, going to your place,
you'll be given a license, they're going to be formed before the rock is etc, etc, etc.
As I said, we've all been kids, we've all been there, etc.
What about the concerns of the residents?
There doesn't appear to me to be any representation there from what the residents have said in
respect of laying their feet.
I mean you're still awaiting a belief.
Is this correct that you're still awaiting an application from the client?
Have you been given that yet?
No.
What acoustics or acoustics reports have you got to ensure that the noise that you're saying
is not going to be disturbing people's sleep or disturbing?
The planning application was delayed, they were asking for some more documents.
And now the current version of it is not requiring a noise assessment because we have taken all reference to live music off the application to begin with.
But for now, as we have said, we will do a secondary change of use once we have been able to produce a noise assessment.
Hmm, okay.
Is that fine for a second?
Oh, one further point.
In respect of these reports here, on this sheet that you give us in respect of the cluster of incidents in the time centre,
I believe one of the representations to us was that the majority of the time the residents didn't make complaints about noise due to the delay police response.
So would that be a trivial accident, would you think?
Because given what I've heard, the doctors and the patients have used trivial accidents.
That would be equally true across the board though, so it doesn't really affect the comparative
figures, it's still an even split between where there are bars and where there are not
bars.
Fair point.
That's all.
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:41:32
I just have a couple of questions, just clarification really.
Just in terms of the control of the access to the rear of the building and the front
the building. In the license you talk about having one person available and two people
available after a certain time. So can you just clarify what your proposals are in terms
of operating and controlling access and egress from the venue please?
Microphone B - 0:42:05
The idea would be if we were having the back door open, which we've already said that we're
going to keep it closed, we'd be having one bar, one of the door staff at the back and
one door staff at the front, but it would be completely monitored by CCTV.
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:42:27
Just in terms of some of the other concerns that were raised by the residents with regard
to the clearing of the area after the venue has closed, what are your plans for making
sure that people do leave the area promptly and are not hanging around afterwards, which
was one of the concerns raised?
Microphone C - 0:42:50
The experience of this that we're familiar with is that people will clear off
monster bar shots because there is no reason for them to stay.
As far as we're aware, according to the provisions of the licensing act,
it's not our responsibility once people have left the premises to ensure that they clear the wider area.
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:43:17
Okay, no more questions from anything else from Harvard, I'm just joking.
John, is there anything else that you'd like to add?
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:43:28
Could I ask Nicola from Environmental Health and Licensing if there's anything that's been
discussed this morning from a noise nuisance point of view that you'd like to make us aware
of, please?
Folkestone & Hythe Officer - 0:43:42
So in terms of environmental health, the service area that I cover does not cover noise nuisance.
That covers, that's undertaken by the Environmental Protection team who unfortunately don't have
a representative here today so I'm not able to provide comment.
Thank you very much.
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:44:04
I think we've heard from the residents, we've made notes on that, we've heard from the applicants,
and we've heard from the licensing team.
What we'll do now is we will adjourn to the members' room and we'll consider all of the
information that we've been presented with both prior to and during this meeting, and
we will make a decision and come back to you shortly.
Okay, thank you.
All those in favor?

4 An application for a Premises Licence in respect of: The Dracula Parrott, 133 Sandgate Road, Folkestone, CT20 2BL

Cllr Mike Blakemore - 0:44:36
Cllr Tony Cooper - 0:44:36
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:44:38
So thank you very much for your representations today.
Cllr Paul Thomas - 0:44:44
Thank you to the officers for the preparation of the reports and we'll be in touch with
the applicants in due course.
Thank you very much for the meetings that close.
Thank you.