Agenda and minutes

Councillor Phil Graham welcomed everyone to the meeting and officers and members introduced themselves.  The procedure for the conduct of the meeting was outlined.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Valerie Bossman-Quarshie.

Councillor Gary Poole substituted for Councillor Valerie Bossman-Quarshie.

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a) Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b) Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f) Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

None.

RESOLVED

That the press and public be excluded from the proceedings during consideration of the following item on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that there would be disclosure of exempt information relating to any action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime as defined in Category 7 of Schedule 21A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

An application for a summary review was received from the Metropolitan Police for an expedited review under Section 53A of the Licensing Act 2003. Within 48 hours of the submission, the Licensing Authority must consider whether to take interim steps, pending a full review hearing.  Due to this short timescales this item has been put forward as urgent in order to comply with the Licensing Act 2003.

The licensing officer reported that the licensee had been notified of the hearing but no response had been received.

The Sub-Committee heard evidence from the police who sought a suspension of the premises licence pending a full review hearing for the following three reasons:-

a)   The serious nature of the criminal offence that had taken place;

b)   The subsequent actions taken by staff to obstruct the investigation;

c)    The steps taken by staff at the venue to protect the suspect from investigation.

The police stated that this demonstrated an association with serious crime and constituted a continuing risk of serious crime.

RESOLVED

That the premises licence in respect of Viva La Pizza, 367 Holloway Road, N7 0RN, be suspended with immediate effect pending the full review.

REASONS FOR DECISION

This meeting was facilitated by Zoom.

The Licensing Sub-Committee considered whether it was necessary to take interim steps pending a full licence review. The Sub-Committee took into account the oral and written representations from the police. It was alleged that there had been a serious criminal offence committed on a customer in a vulnerable state off the premises following drinking on the premises with staff. The members of staff had failed to co-operate with the police and had obstructed the investigation which is on-going.

The licence holder was notified about the meeting but was not in attendance. 

The Sub-Committee considered that a suspension of the premises licence was necessary while investigations took place and to ensure the safety of the public.