Politics Index

Rugby Quotation of the Day

November 19th, 2008 admin

James Haskell celebrates his elevation to the England starting XV:

Without sounding cheesy, it's a big challenge to play against Burger."

Posted in euro liberal | Comments Off

79 London Road (Impartation Network) licence review update

November 19th, 2008 admin

You may remember back in October I blogged that Reading Borough Council officers had finally got round to reviewing the premises licence held by a venue on London Road, after months of pressure from local residents and myself.

This venue, which has been responsible for a large number of noisy late-night club nights over a period of several months, had earlier withdrawn it's application for a late licence, following a massive number of complaints from local residents, many of whom had suffered weeks of disturbed sleep.

I held meetings with residents affected during the summer to listen to their concerns. They showed me videos they had recorded of evenings when club nights had been held at this venue - heavy bass could be heard from within many of the private houses on Eldon Square, with the windows closed, until the early hours.

It  quickly became clear to me that these residents had put a lot of time and effort into complaining to the Council. They were getting very frustrated at the time it was taking officers to take action, so I took up their cause  and campaigned to get RBC officers to press for a review, which they finally did.

Returning to the here and now, yesterday I received the meeting papers for the review hearing which is due to take place on 25 November at 5pm in the Council Chamber at the Civic Offices.

The grounds for review are outlined as follows:

'Environmental Protection [officers] have serious concerns regarding music breakout, noise emanating from the premises affecting residents residing in the vicinity. In summary attempts to to reach a solution informally have not resulted in a satisfactory level of response by the premises licence holder.'

A week or so ago, I received a telephone call from a resident to tell me that they had heard news that a late night club night was planned by the Impartation Network to be held on 79 London Road on Saturday 8 November from 22:00 until late.

Residents and I knew that the Impartation Network had exhausted their (12) Temporary Event Licences for this year. This didn't stop them applying for another one. For more information about TENs read this earlier post.

Myself and others wrote to Envionmental Protection officers about this and their TEN application was rejected. Despite this, the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) at the Impartation Network said that the event would go ahead.

Officers from RBC then served an Abatement Notice on him and the landowners as those likely to be responsible for the statutory nuisance under section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 - in this case, noise.

The Notice read 'you are hearby prohibited from causing, permitting or allowing the occurence of said nuisance.' Failure to comply with this Notice dould mean that the individual named on the Notice acould be found guilty of an offence under Section 80 of the Environmental Protection Act and liable for a fine of up to £20,000.

What happened next? Well, a quick perusal of the licensing papers reveals all:

'On Saturday 8th November 2008 officers visited the area at 22:45 until 23:30 and witnessed low level back ground music coming from the premises.'

To recap, this is a venue which has caused major noise nuisance, failed to take necessary steps to mitigate this and one which as recently as two weeks ago  has been operating (a) without the required licence (b) despite the issuing of a legal notice by RBC.

Let's hope that RBC's review of the premises licence is granted by the Licensing Applications Sub-Committee 1 next Tuesday and that any further harm is not caused to local residents by this disreputable venues and that no further late night events are held until the licencee can demonstrate that action has been taken to deal with noise breakout.

I have written separately to the Council to find out what legal action RBC officers will be taking following the breach of the Abatement Notice on 8 November.

Posted in euro liberal | Comments Off

Chess Olympiad 2008, Dresden

November 19th, 2008 admin

This is being well covered, with live coverage of some games, at Chessdom.

England are in an encouraging seventh place.

Posted in euro liberal | Comments Off

Brian Paddick and Hugh Paddick

November 19th, 2008 admin

In view of the erstwhile Lib Dem Mayoral candidate's current adventures in the jungle, it is time to remind ourselves that he is related to the late Round the Horne actor Hugh Paddick.

Posted in euro liberal | Comments Off

The attraction of the Stiperstones

November 18th, 2008 admin

Why am I always going on about the Stiperstones?

Posted in euro liberal | Comments Off