Late night licence criticised by Green councillor

25 August 2010

Regency ward councillor Jason Kitcat has criticised councillors who approved a license application against the objections of Sussex Police, residents, and even the Council's own Environmental Protection team.

A Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel of two Conservative and one Labour councillor agreed to extend the hours and scale of operations for Jam, a venue in Middle Street.

"Jam presented a poor quality application which utterly failed to address the impact of their proposals," commented Cllr Kitcat.

"Middle Street lies in the heart of the Cumulative Impact Area which is supposed to limit the expansion of licensed activities.

"I and residents are so disappointed that both Jam's management and the licensing panel failed to take cumulative impact into account.

"It is residents who will suffer the consequences of this approval, with more noise and disturbance as they try to get on with their lives."

"While staying in the same ownership Jam was previously known as the Water Margin.

"Eighteen months ago the venue had its license suspended due to serious disorder which resulted in open street fighting.

"Entourage, another venue on the street, also recently had its license suspended due to problems there.

"Middle Street has a dense mix of licensed venues. Residents understand they live in the city centre, but the last few years has seen a slide to worse behaviour, more noise and later hours, making life unbearable. With limited Police resources, the area cannot take any more late night activities," says Jason.

"The Police specifically said their operations could not cope with later closures in that area, but the panel ignored this along with my objections and those of the residents.

"Residents and Police are now considering appealing this decision by the Council's licensing panel as we believe it is a step too far.

"I value the live music in our city, and support venues wherever possible.

"Jam could have continued to be a great live music venue without the proposed extensions. What they applied for will have a detrimental impact on residents' quality of life, which is why I objected."

Notes

For more information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.

Jam applied to extend the hours of their operations (the premises will now be open until 4am Tue-Thurs and until 5am Fri-Sat), remove conditions restricting activities on their ground floor and increase the number of smokers allowed in their designated smoking area.

The full papers for the panel hearing with the objections lodged, including that by Cllr Kitcat, can be read at http://present.brighton-hove.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=160&MId=3055&Ver=4

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