Resolved - That Councillor Harry Smith be appointed Chair for this meeting.

Members are asked to consider whether they have personal or prejudicial interests in connection with any item(s) on this agenda, and, if so, to declare them and state what they are.

Members were asked to consider whether they had any personal or prejudicial interests in connection with the item on the agenda, and if so, to declare them and state what they were.

No such declarations were made.

The Director of Law, HR and Asset Management reported upon an application that had been received from David Doyle to vary a Premises Licence in respect of Bam Buddha Lounge, 34-42 Conway Street, Birkenhead, under the provisions of the Licensing Act 2003.

The application to vary the Premises Licence was as follows:

Supply of Alcohol

Sunday to Friday  10:00 to 04:00

Saturday  10:00 to 05:00

Hours Open to the Public

Sunday to Friday   10:00 to 04:30

Saturday  10:00 to 05:30

Regulated Entertainment (Live Music)

Sunday to Friday  20:00 to 04:00

Saturday  10:00 to 05:00

Regulated Entertainment (Recorded Music and Anything of a Similar Description)

Sunday to Friday  10:00 to 04:00

Saturday  10:00 to 05:00

Entertainment Facilities (Facilities for Making Music and Anything of a Similar Description)

Sunday to Friday  10:00 to 04:00

Saturday  10:00 to 05:00

Late Night Refreshment

Sunday to Friday  23:00 to 04:00

Saturday  23:00 to 05:00

In respect of the application Merseyside Police had made a representation concerning the prevention of crime and disorder.  The Licensing Sergeant considered that any extension in hours would increase the number of incidents of anti-social behaviour within the vicinity of the premises.  A copy of the representation and police logs were available.

Mr D Doyle, Designated Premises Supervisor attended the meeting together with Barry Holland, Solicitors, acting on his behalf and Mr N Baker.

Sergeant P Jenkins and Constable K Cottrell, Police Licensing were also present.

The Licensing Officer confirmed that all documents had been sent and received and that some additional documentation produced by Merseyside Police had been consented by Mr Holland, these were therefore distributed to all parties.

Mr Holland reported that the application was to extend the hours for licensable activities for one hour from 4am to 5am on Saturday only.  He outlined the history of the premises and referred to the fact that the premises had previously held a licence until 6am however this had been reduced to 4am following a review.  Following a further review in May 2009 a condition to upgrade the CCTV system was imposed on the licence.  He informed the Sub-Committee that the premises now have 48 cameras, that door supervisors wore fluorescent jackets and polycarbonate vessels were used at the premises.

He outlined the location of the premises, that they were situated on the first floor of the building and reported that the premises below named Aura was also owned by Mr Baker and run by Mr Doyle which currently held a licence until 5am on Fridays and Saturdays.

He informed Members that the premises had been well conducted since May 2009 and since this time only four incidents had been referred to by Merseyside Police which were outlined within their report.  He therefore felt that the operators had shown they were capable of running the premises within the confines of the four licensing objectives.  He reported that during the period since May 2009 there had been 14 Temporary Event Notices which had operated until 5am, none of which had been opposed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.