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The decision of the Committee
to grant the application as amended and subject to the agreed
Conditions.
 
The Committee in reaching its
decision took into account:
 
· 
The evidence before it both written and
oral
 
· 
The relevant parts of the Council’s Statement
of Licensing Policy
 
· 
The relevant parts of the Guidance issued by the
Secretary of State
 
Committee’s reasoning and
findings are:
 
Committee noted that the
application before it was amended to that originally submitted and
was now also subject to conditions that had been agreed with the
Licensing Authority and Public Health. 
They also noted that the hours sought had been significantly
reduced to those initially applied for.

They heard from Mr Farooq, the
applicant, who stated that he had operated his premises from
Grainger Street for a number of years,
without issue and without complaint or enforcement action being
taken.  The premises had 30 seats and a
capacity of 50.  They operated as a
casual chicken and burger restaurant. 
Since the opening of the premises there had been a number of new competing businesses that had opened
in the locality with longer hours. In Mr Farooq’s opinion his
food offering was healthier than those newer premises on Newgate
Street and the Bigg Market.
 
He also confirmed that he was
agreeable to a number of new conditions
and redrafting of some existing to improve his licence.  Mr Farooq explained that he has enlisted an expert
licensing firm TJR Licensing to assist with the drafting of
policies for approval by the responsible authorities.
 
He confirmed when asked by Ms
Hebb that the premises would operate as a dine in and takeaway but
mainly dine in which contained the potential for noise and
nuisance.
 
On behalf of Northumbria Police
Ms Hebb stated that although she welcomed the amended conditions
and hours the application for an extra two hours on Friday and
Saturdays still presented concerns.  The
premises were located within a special stress area and special
policy 2 of the statement of licensing policy applied.  In order for the
application to be granted Committee must be satisfied that there
are exceptional circumstances and that if granted the application
would not add to the negative cumulative impact.  She also referenced the framework of hours within
the statement of policy.  Although no
statistics or evidence were provided to Committee by Sgt Cottiss to
demonstrate that there wouold be an
impact on the crime and disorder in the area, Ms Hebb did explain
that such data had formed the basis of the justification for the
imposition of a cumulative impact area within the
policy.
 
Committee were aware that they
must consider each case on its merits and in this instance, were
satisfied that the fact that the premises had operated for a
considerable time without issue,  that
the applicant was prepared to accept conditions which would
significantly improve the licence in addition to reducing the hours
originally sought, were matters which whilst
individually  may not be considered
exceptional in themselves,  when
combined together  all contributed to
exceptionality.
 
They accepted the Police
evidence however found it to be more generic in nature and not
specifically related to the particular
premises. They found that the applicant had demonstrated
that if granted the application would not add to the negative
cumulative impact in the area. With regard
to the increase in hours, Committee were aware that the
statement of licensing policy can be deviated from and were
satisfied that they could exercise their discretion to deviate and
allow the extra two hours on a Friday and Saturday