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 Marian Spall.

Councillor Anjna Khurana substituted for Councillor Marian Spall.

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.

There were no declarations of interest.  

The order of business would be as the agenda.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meetings held on the 20 July 2021, 12 August 2021 and 22 October 2021 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

The licensing officer introduced all parties.  She stated that documents had been circulated from Ei Group and the police setting out actions and conditions agreed upon following discussions between the parties.

The police officer reported that this review related to an incident in mid-October. A male was assaulted outside the venue and the outcome could have been fatal.  He was taken to hospital by his father. The venue did not call the emergency services and they chose to obliterate the crime scene through cleaning.  A summary review was held on the 23 October 2021 and the licence was suspended, pending the full review hearing. The position of the police initially was that the licence would be revoked but since that time the licence holder decided to withdraw from the licence and submitted his keys to the leaseholder and a licence transfer was submitted. The police engaged with Ei/Stonegate, who were in agreement with the severity of the issue and together had put forward a suitable schedule to enable the venue to be kept open. These contained unusual stipulations including a soft opening, a six month closure and body worn video.  The legal adviser had made minor changes to ensure that these were practicable for conditions should the Sub-Committee be minded not to revoke the licence. The police submitted that they were content with these thorough and robust conditions assuming a suitable management operator could be found for the premises.

In response to questions, the police stated that the difference this time was that the previous operator had left and the proposed management would be Ei/Stonegate. If there were further issues and the licence was reviewed, the police would consider this as the last chance. It was considered that the risk was around the operator of the venue. The Chair was concerned that there may have been other incidents at the venue which the police were not aware of and he would not wish to be in this position again. The police considered that if the options submitted did not satisfy the Sub-Committee they could not offer anything else.  Conditions did not mean anything if they were not upheld. The police stated that they would rather see the venue open if it could be run safely.  They had been reassured by the licence holder who was committed to running a safe venue.  The licence holder held a long lease and did not want a closed pub. The licence holder and the police had worked together and the police did not consider any more could be done. The police also considered that, if the venue closed, patrons would go to other local venues.  This licence holder was aware of the risks, knew the nature of the operations and it would be a heavily conditioned licence.  Other venues may be less robust.

The Licensing Authority fully supported the application by the Police.  They stated that the venue had a chequered history and it was good to see  ...  view the full minutes text for item 284.