Council to make decision over Da Vinci's licence objection

Derry City and Strabane District Council is to decide whether to renew an entertainments licence for a prominent city bar and hotel complex after an objection was lodged against the move.

Da Vinci’s Hotel has applied for a renewal of an entertainments licence of its premises at on Culmore Road, which was advertised in the local press via a public notice.

The matter was brought before a meeting of the council last month when it was revealed that its Licensing Officer had received an objection to the renewal via email.

Due to the objection, council have a statutory duty to take regard of any representations made in response to the public notice.

However, council has discretionary power in relation to how much weight it attaches to the representation when making a final decision on the licence renewal.

The matter came before a recent meeting of the council’s Health and Community Committee at the Guildhall when both the applicant and the objector were invited to appear before elected members to give their respective representations.

Solicitor Thomas appeared on behalf of the applicant, the Garvan O’Doherty Group, while the objector, Stephen Wade, was also invited to address the council chamber.

Mr Doherty told the meeting he would be seeking an adjournment on behalf of his client as he had only been made aware of the objection and that he also wished to see any additional correspondence between the objector and the council.

Mr Doherty added he had also only made aware of the identity of the objector as it had been ‘redacted’ by council in their correspondence with him.

He therefore sought an adjournment so he could consult further with his client on the matter.

Mr Wade said he was opposed to the adjournment as he had taken a day off work to attend the meeting and that the applicant had been ‘well informed’ about the matter prior to the meeting.

However, Mr Doherty said there had not been full disclosure with regards to all the information relating to the objection, and he had not been given ‘adequate time’ to consider all of the information as some of it had only been made available that morning.

The council’s Licensing Officer, Shaun Austin, told the meeting that not all the information had been made available to the applicant, therefore full disclosure had not been made and that an adjournment was ‘fair’.

The matter has been adjourned until the next meeting of the committee, which will be held in Strabane on July 9.