Public urination fears over club's late night plan

Concerns about loud noise and people urinating in the street are among objections to a bid by owners of a nightclub to keep it open into the early hours of the morning.

The owners of Fusion, near Scarborough town centre, want to extend its opening hours until 03:00 on Friday and Saturday mornings, and until 02:00 every day between Sunday and Thursday.

However, people living nearby told the council they were worried about antisocial behaviour, while council officers said they had been dealing with complaints about the venue since the start of the year.

The bar, which opened in November last year, describes itself as a "new intimate late-night venue" on its social media page.

The premises licence application, submitted by JPH Venues Ltd, would also allow the bar on St Thomas Street to sell alcohol past 02:00.

Currently, the business can only sell alcohol until midnight every day except Saturday, when it can sell it until 01:00.

If the application was approved by North Yorkshire Council, the playing of recorded music could also be extended and would match the new proposed opening hours.

One objection, submitted by a neighbour ahead of a council meeting to decide on the plans next week, stated: "There must have been three or four call-outs from the police to Fusion.

"I don't believe Fusion should have its licences extended. It is disturbing my health and sleep - and my mental health isn't great."

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, two separate complaints from neighbours were investigated by the council in January and May this year, and a joint site visit was conducted in January by the council's environmental protection team, licensing officers and North Yorkshire Police's licensing unit.

Fusion's premises supervisor had been advised to speak to an acoustic expert to look at the premises and "identify measures necessary to prevent noise breakout", a report stated.

However, according to the report, the applicant had since "not provided the acoustic assessment requested" by officers.

In the report, an officer on North Yorkshire Council's environmental health team said: "In the absence of a suitable acoustic assessment, we do not have sufficient evidence to conclude that the proposed activities can operate without causing disturbance to nearby residential properties or giving rise to public nuisance."

However, following a negotiation between the licence holder and North Yorkshire Police, additional conditions had been agreed ahead of the meeting of the licensing sub-committee which would be held to decide on the proposal.

The conditions included the installation of a colour CCTV system, a requirement to have at least two security door staff on Fridays, at weekends and on bank holidays, as well as participation in local crime reduction initiatives.

At the meeting on Wednesday 16 September, which is open to the public, the licensing committee can approve, reject or modify the proposed application.

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