Councillor David Simpson was appointed to the Chair

No declarations of interest were received

The Chairman asked Stephen Graham, the Legal Advisor for the applicant, Hotel Du Vin Trading Limited, to speak first.  Mr Graham described the Hotel Du Vin group as a luxury boutique hotel Chain, which had purchased Cannizaro House Hotel in October 2014. At the time of purchase the previous owners were asked if there was a history of complaints from local residents and neighbours regarding noise and public nuisance resulting from the hotel’s activities and where told that there was not.  Mr Graham explained the variation of licence as applied for was seeking to alter the layout of the premises, extend the licence area to include the Orangerie, extend the sale of alcohol (both on and off sales) by an hour , and to add regulated entertainment and late night refreshment to the licence.  Mr Graham explained that this variation did not seek to increase the size of functions or to increase the provision of regulated entertainment – the hotel had no wish to turn into pub, or party venue and did not wish to attract any kind of trouble.  Mr Graham asked the panel to note that the police had made no representation on this application.  Mr Graham stated that the application for variation had been amended to take note of resident’s concerns; the extension on sale of alcohol had been reduced from 2am to 12 midnight, the request for a Marquee had been withdrawn and all regulated and non-regulated activities would now only take place inside.  The Marquee used at a function in March 2015 was a longstanding booking made by the previous owners.  Mr Graham added that the applicants sought to address the issues of noise made by people leaving functions and where going to install further CCTV cameras to bring the total to nine, they were to hire further members of staff such that there would always be a night duty manager in the manager’s office to monitor the car park and they would display prominent, clear and legible signage to remind patrons to be considerate when leaving, and the hours of bottle and refuse collection would be limited to between 9am and 10pm with glass collection only between 9am and 11am.

Mr Graham asked the panel to note that since changes to the regulations in March 2015 live music, recorded music and the provision of dance was now deregulated between the hours of 8am and 11pm for less than 500 people – and that events at the hotel never exceeded this number.  The proposed capacity of function rooms was detailed by Mr Graham; the Orangerie would have a maximum capacity of 120 with 43 on the patio, the Rollard room would have a maximum capacity of 50 and the Krug room would have a total capacity of 100.  Mr Graham said that a noise limiting device that operated on amplified music was still in place and its use was offered as a condition as well as the closing of all doors and windows.  The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.