The Eastern Area Licensing Sub Committee was scheduled to convene to consider a licensing application for the Bromham Community Hub, and to elect a chair for the meeting. The meeting was scheduled to take place at the Kennet Room in County Hall, Trowbridge. Councillors scheduled to attend were Cllr Trevor Carbin, Cllr Andrew Matthews, and Cllr Ben Reed, with Cllr Robert Smith as a substitute.

Licensing Application

The main item on the agenda was to consider and determine a premises licence application made by the Bromham Community Hub, located on New Road, Bromham, Chippenham, Wiltshire. The application requests permission for several licensable activities. These include:

• Plays (indoors only)
• Films (indoors only)
• Live music (indoors only)
• Recorded music (indoors only)
• Performance of dance (indoors only)
• Provision of anything of a similar description to live music, recorded music or performances of dance (indoors only)
• Supply of alcohol (on sales only)

The application specifies timings for these activities, with non-standard timings proposed for Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, and the Friday and Saturday of Bromham Carnival.

The report pack included the application form, relevant representations, and a location plan.

Background

The Bromham Community Hub is a new build, single-storey community centre, replacing the previously licensed Bromham Social Centre, which was destroyed by fire in June 2021. The new building includes a large hall (which can be split into two), and a separate cafe/bar area. The maximum capacity of the hall is 183 people seated, and the maximum capacity of the cafe is 60 people.

The licensable activities granted under the previous licence for the Social Centre and The Owl @ Bromham included:

Representations

Two representations were received from local residents, both raising concerns about the prevention of public nuisance. The representations stated that the proposed late opening hours, particularly the plan to serve alcohol and run events until 23:00 on weekdays and midnight on weekends, could lead to late-night noise and disruption, given the Hub's location in a quiet village close to residential properties. One representation also suggested that starting performances at 08:00 was unnecessarily early.

Licensing Objectives

The report pack states that, in accordance with Section 18 (3) of The Licensing Act 2003¹ the Licensing Sub Committee is required to take such steps as it considers appropriate for the promotion of the licensing objectives.

The licensing objectives are:

• The prevention of crime and disorder
• Public safety
• The prevention of public nuisance
• The protection of children from harm

The steps that the Sub Committee can take are:

• Grant the licence subject to conditions.
• Exclude from the scope of the application any licensable activity.
• Refuse to specify a person as the designated premises supervisor².
• Reject the application.

Other Matters

The agenda also included:

• Election of a Chairman for the meeting.
• Apologies for absence/substitutions.
• Explanation of the procedure for the meeting.
• Chairman's announcements, including details of emergency exits.
• Declarations of interest.