Agenda and draft minutes

Councillor Cann was nominated as Chair.

RESOLVED that Councillor Cann be appointed Chair of this Sub-Committee A.

There were apologies for absence.

There were no items brought forward by the Chair.

Declarations of Interests. (Please telephone the Corporate and Community Services team to prepare a form for your signature before the meeting. Interests must be re-declared when the item is called. A declaration of interest under the Code of Conduct will be a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest, an Other Registrable Interest or a Non-Registrable Interest.  If the item directly relates to your interest you must declare the interest and leave the room for the item, save in the case of Other Registrable Interests or Non-Registrable Interests where you may first speak on the item as a member of the public if provision has been made for the public to speak.  If the matter does not directly relate to your interest but still affects it then you must consider whether you are affected to a greater extent than most people and whether a reasonable person would consider your judgement to be clouded, if you are then you must leave the room for the item (although you may speak as a member of the public if provision has been made for the public to speak) or, if you are not, then you can declare the interest but still take part).

There were no declarations of interest announced.

Report by Licensing Officer (attached).

The Chair introduced herself and the other members of the sub-Committee along with officers present and she invited others present to introduce themselves.

Also present:

Mr Matthew Fleetham, the Applicant.

Mr Roger Abbott, a person who had made a relevant representation.

Mr Tilney, solicitor representing Mr Paul and Mrs Patricia Taylor, persons who had made relevant representations.

The Chair asked the Licensing Officer if all necessary legal requirements had been met in the submission of this application.  The Licensing Officer confirmed they had been met.

The Chair then asked the Legal Officer to outline the hearing process.

The Licensing Officer presented his report and highlighted the following:

·         The premises application was for the permit to sell alcohol Monday to Sunday 09:00 hours to 22:30 hours as well as be open to the public.

·         No permission was being sought for entertainment or late night refreshments.  The full application could be seen at Appendix A of the report.

·         Appendices B and C of the agenda were the relevant representations that had been made by Mr Abbott and Mr and Mrs Taylor.

·         The objectives referenced in the relevant representations were Prevention of public nuisance and public safety.

·         Any aerial photograph of the site could be seen on page 26 in Appendix A of the agenda.

·         Appendices F and G of the agenda were the Planning Authority’s response to the licensing application.

·         Also tabled at the meeting in relation to Appendix G a further email response from the Planning officer in relation to the 60 camping permission.

·         Devon and Cornwall Police Licensing Officer in conjunction with the Applicant had agree conditions to the application and could be seen at Appendix D of the agenda.  A visit had been made to the site to agree the conditions.

·         Also tabled at the meeting further to Appendix B a further email from the legal representative of Mr and Mrs Taylor in relation to conditions they felt would allay their concerns over public nuisance.

·         Appendix E of the agenda were photographs of the vineyard and nearby vantage points taken by the Licensing Officer during his site visit.

The Applicant presented his case.  He bought the land in 2018 and turned it into a vineyard in 2019.  He grows two varieties of grape and is the only wine producer in Devon.  His ethos was very much centred on sustainability.  He had held several Temporary Event Notices (TENs) last year and was looking to obtain a full licence to keep the business viable.  He received no complaints regarding his tours last year and had only received positive feedback.  His wine sells at £28 per bottle for still, £32 per bottle for semi-sparkling and £45 for sparkling wine.  The barn on site was to be used for the restaurant he hoped to build and had partnered with a chef who would work three days a week.  The idea was that after the tours of the vineyard visitors would then go to the restaurant and have a meal with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.