News: Local opposition to Rotherham hotel's new alcohol licence
Rotherham Council considering if a prominent hotel can reopen its bar and host late night events again.
In 2024 the authority, which has legal responsibilities to place homeless households in emergency accommodation, was criticised for using the Carlton Park Hotel to provide homeless accommodation without consulting locals.
Witness reports included “violent crime, burglaries, trespassing on private property, prostitution, sex in public, urinating in public, begging”, and “open drug use."
Boston Castle Ward member, Cllr. Taiba Yasseen said that there were serious safeguarding risks given the Moorgate hotel's location close to Oakwood School and Thomas Rotherham College.
Hotels and Resorts Ltd has recently applied for new licence that would cover the Sale of Alcohol, for consumption on and off the premises, the provision of Live Music and Recorded Music (indoors); and the provision of Late-Night Refreshment (indoors).
Reduced from 1am in an earlier proposal, the operators are seeking authorisation to allow the activities on every day of the week the between 10am and 12 midnight. Extended hours to 1am are requested around bank holidays, having previously been requested to 4am.
The applicant states: "Our intention is not to establish Carlton Park Hotel as a nightclub or unrestricted latenight entertainment venue. We simply want to reopen the hotel's pub/bar and restaurant for our hotel guests and the surrounding community and restore Carlton Park to the reputable hotel and hospitality venue it historically was.
Advertisement
"We want to restore the hotel pub/bar and restaurant so hotel guests can have a meal and a drink without leaving the hotel and local residents can use and enjoy Carlton Park's facilities.
"The neighbouring Brentwood Hotel licence provides a useful local comparison for reasonable operating hours and activities on Moorgate Road. We seek a broadly comparable operating framework, including the same clearly defined seasonal extensions, while withdrawing the broad and less-defined extensions in our original application."
The licence would come with a number of management controls covering Challenge 25, CCTV, SIA registered door supervisors and staff training,
The council's licencing team have been unconvinced by the application and stated in its representation that it: "is opposed the grant of this application as it considers that the applicant has not sufficiently demonstrated that the steps they are proposing will sufficiently promote the Public Safety, Prevention of Crime and Disorder, Public Nuisance and the Protection of Children from Harm licensing objectives."
This is based on a lack of detail in the application regarding management controls and noise mitigation for nearby residential properties.
Alan Pogorzelec, Licensing Manager at Rotherham Council, also said in the representation: "It is understood that the hotel is currently used to temporarily accommodate homeless individuals. The applicant has not taken into consideration the vulnerable nature of these people, nor the potential impact that the sale of alcohol within the hotel is likely to have. The Licensing Authority is concerned that this activity will increase the already significant levels of crime and disorder within the area, and the applicant has not provided sufficient information of the steps that would be taken to prevent this."
A number of issues have been raised by Cllr. Yasseen and residents which were discussed when the Licensing Sub-committee met this week.
Carlton Park Hotel website
Images: Carlton Park Hotel
In 2024 the authority, which has legal responsibilities to place homeless households in emergency accommodation, was criticised for using the Carlton Park Hotel to provide homeless accommodation without consulting locals.
Witness reports included “violent crime, burglaries, trespassing on private property, prostitution, sex in public, urinating in public, begging”, and “open drug use."
Boston Castle Ward member, Cllr. Taiba Yasseen said that there were serious safeguarding risks given the Moorgate hotel's location close to Oakwood School and Thomas Rotherham College.
Hotels and Resorts Ltd has recently applied for new licence that would cover the Sale of Alcohol, for consumption on and off the premises, the provision of Live Music and Recorded Music (indoors); and the provision of Late-Night Refreshment (indoors).
Reduced from 1am in an earlier proposal, the operators are seeking authorisation to allow the activities on every day of the week the between 10am and 12 midnight. Extended hours to 1am are requested around bank holidays, having previously been requested to 4am.
The applicant states: "Our intention is not to establish Carlton Park Hotel as a nightclub or unrestricted latenight entertainment venue. We simply want to reopen the hotel's pub/bar and restaurant for our hotel guests and the surrounding community and restore Carlton Park to the reputable hotel and hospitality venue it historically was.
Advertisement
"We want to restore the hotel pub/bar and restaurant so hotel guests can have a meal and a drink without leaving the hotel and local residents can use and enjoy Carlton Park's facilities.
"The neighbouring Brentwood Hotel licence provides a useful local comparison for reasonable operating hours and activities on Moorgate Road. We seek a broadly comparable operating framework, including the same clearly defined seasonal extensions, while withdrawing the broad and less-defined extensions in our original application."
The licence would come with a number of management controls covering Challenge 25, CCTV, SIA registered door supervisors and staff training,
The council's licencing team have been unconvinced by the application and stated in its representation that it: "is opposed the grant of this application as it considers that the applicant has not sufficiently demonstrated that the steps they are proposing will sufficiently promote the Public Safety, Prevention of Crime and Disorder, Public Nuisance and the Protection of Children from Harm licensing objectives."
This is based on a lack of detail in the application regarding management controls and noise mitigation for nearby residential properties.
Alan Pogorzelec, Licensing Manager at Rotherham Council, also said in the representation: "It is understood that the hotel is currently used to temporarily accommodate homeless individuals. The applicant has not taken into consideration the vulnerable nature of these people, nor the potential impact that the sale of alcohol within the hotel is likely to have. The Licensing Authority is concerned that this activity will increase the already significant levels of crime and disorder within the area, and the applicant has not provided sufficient information of the steps that would be taken to prevent this."
A number of issues have been raised by Cllr. Yasseen and residents which were discussed when the Licensing Sub-committee met this week.
Carlton Park Hotel website
Images: Carlton Park Hotel
0 comments:
Post a Comment