Agenda and minutes

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

None.

There were no declarations of substitute members.

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 Item B2, B1 and B3.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on the 17 July 2018 be confirmed as a correct record and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

A local resident spoke against the application.  He raised concerns about the cumulative impact of the licence, particularly regarding the late hours of opening. He stated that he would have no objection if the hour for the sale of alcohol was reduced to 10.30pm during the week.  He also raised concerns regarding hours on Sundays as other local premises were not open on this day and this was the one night that was quiet.   He asked that the premises close at 10.30 pm on a Sunday or preferably in the afternoon and open for lunch only.  He did not consider that there needed to be another licensed premises in the area and was concerned about the number of covers which he said would be 50 or more.

In response to questions the local resident stated that he had known the applicant for over ten years and believed he was a fit and proper person to manage the business but considered that an earlier closing time would be preferable.  It was noted that there was a small pub that was quite far away but the nearest pub was very large but was not open on a Sunday.

The applicant’s representative stated that he would modify the application for the sale of alcohol to end at 10.30pm with a closing time of 11pm Monday to Sunday.  The applicant managed a number of premises and had been a licence holder for 13 years.  Proposed conditions 17 and 18 addressed resident concerns and ensured that alcohol would only be served with a table meal.  The applicant would be the designated premises supervisor and the application proposed comprehensive conditions.  There would be about 35-40 covers. The application fell within the framework hours detailed in the licensing policy, fell within the exceptions to the Bunhill cumulative impact policy and complied with licensing policy 2.  The applicant’s representative also advised that the Home Office guidance be considered when making the decision.

In response to questions it was noted that there would be no delivery service.  The nature of the business was not expected to change although it was the intention to serve burgers in the evening and alcohol would be sold with those meals.  The premises were open until 4.30pm currently but with alcohol these hours would be extended.  The applicant modified the application for Sunday and reduced the hour for the sale of alcohol to 9.30 pm. 

In summary, the local resident stated that it would not want the hours to be too long and on Sundays the area was very quiet with only one public house open.  Tables and chairs were near to a residential area and could cause disturbance.  He welcomed the reduction in hours on a Sunday but would prefer the closing hour to be earlier. The applicant advised that the closing time on Sunday was proposed to be 10pm and stated that this was not a precedent as all cases would be considered on their merits.

RESOLVED

1)     That the application for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

The applicant requested an adjournment as a solicitor had just been engaged and further time was required.

RESOLVED that the application be adjourned to a future meeting.

The licensing officer reported that there had been a site visit by the licensing team on the 27 September 2018 and there had been some improvements.  A refusals record was now being kept, efforts had been made to keep invoices in an orderly fashion and the CCTV seemed to be in operation although this could not be operated by the member of staff present.

In response to questions the trading standards officer stated that no invoices had been produced for the illicit alcohol and only some invoices over the past two months had been produced.  There did not appear to be the amount of invoices available for the amount of stock on the premises.

The trading standards officer referred to her report and stated that condition 5 of the licence required that stock should be easily traceable. The illicit alcohol on the shelves could not be easily traced.  There was a large quantity of polish alcohol on the premises that was not intended for sale in the UK.

In response to questions, the trading standards officer reported that in 2015, illegal alcohol was seized from the premises and conditions were added to the licence by an officer panel.  It was also stated that officer seized alcohol on the 7 June 2018 and, only one week later, on the 15 June, another large quantity of alcohol not intended for the UK market was seized.  At the first visit on the 7 June, it was made clear that the sale of this alcohol was a breach of condition and a visit report was also left to explain why the alcohol could not be sold.

The licensing authority highlighted the report on pages 79-81 of the agenda and stated that, although there had been some improvement, it had taken some time to get to this point. Alcohol sold should not be above 6.5 abv and the Chair considered that condition 14 of the current licence be reworded to avoid confusion.

The police stated that they supported the review submitted.  They had other matters of concern in relation to the premises which were not licensing matters but were outlined in the papers. 

The licensee’s representative stated that this was a very small shop and a very busy family business.  Insufficient care and attention had been paid to the conditions on the licence and illicit alcohol had been sold on the premises.  There had now been significant progress made in addressing these issues.  New CCTV had been installed, the refusals book was now up to date, the Challenge 25 notices were on display. The licensee had brought all invoices to the Sub-Committee.  They were being put into categories.  He needed to undertake a stock take and was currently working on till prompts.  This improvement had happened and a short suspension should not be a punishment.  He agreed that condition 14 could be reworded and he considered that there should be an acknowledgement of improvements made and that a suspension was not necessary.

In response to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.