The officers consider that the following item or items contains exempt information as provided for in the Local Government Access to Information Act and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The Committee is recommended to agree the necessary resolutions excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of these items. At the time this agenda is published no representations have been that this part of the meeting should be open to the public.

A recommendation was made that the public be excluded during consideration of the following items of business.

Decision

To exclude the public during consideration of the following items which involved consideration of exempt information relating to the financial or business affairs of particular persons, and public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

The report of the Director of Planning, Building Regulations and Licensing is enclosed.

The Hearing Panel considered a report from the Head of Planning, Building Control and Licensing.  The Hearing Panel also considered the written papers of the parties submitted and the oral representations of the parties who attended as well as the relevant legislation.

In line with established hearing procedure and following careful consideration of the written submissions concerning the application, the Panel first heard from the Applicant’s Representative.  The Panel was told that the Applicant had recently acquired the premises which had previously been licensed.  However, due to the last Premises Licence Holder (PLH) being dissolved the licence could not be transferred. The Applicant’s Legal Representative confirmed he had been unaware of the criminal history of the proposed Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) and that at the time that the application was made, he had not yet obtained his own Personal Licence and had asked his friend if he could nominate him as DPS, intending always to vary this once he had obtained his own Personal Licence. The Committee was also told that the Applicant had mistakenly believed that the licence had been transferred when he took over the business; once informed he could not sell alcohol, he applied for Temporary Event Notices which were not objected to.  The Committee was told that the premises had recently had a visit from HMRC and no issues had been identified. The Committee also heard from the Licensing Out Of Hours officer that the Applicant had been cooperating with the Responsible Authorities to run a compliant business and that since the illegal Vapes had been seen by officers, the Applicant had removed them from sale when told about them and that they had not been put back on sale.

The Committee therefore resolved that the Licensing Objectives should not be undermined if the licence was granted on these terms as long as the person proposed on the application was not the DPS.

Decision: 

To grant the application with conditions consistent with the Operating Schedule and to refuse to specify the person proposed in the application as the Designated Premises Supervisor.