Agenda and minutes

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any personal interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda. If the interest arises only as result of your membership of another public body or one to which you have been appointed by the Council then you only need to declare it if you intend to speak.

If the personal interest is a prejudicial interest, you must withdraw from the meeting. Normally you should leave the room before the business starts to be discussed. You do, however, have the same right to speak as a member of the public and may remain in the room to enable you to exercise that right and then leave immediately. In either case you must not seek to improperly influence a decision on the matter.

None of the Sub-Committee declared an interest in the one agenda item under discussion.

Report of Corporate Director of Governance (enclosed)

Attached for Members information is the Hearing Procedure

The Director of Corporate Governance submitted a report requesting Members to determine whether an application to transfer a premises licence could be granted and also to determine whether an application to vary the premises licence to operating as individual(s) as a Designed Premises Supervisor.

The report indicated that applications had been received on 15 October 2008 and that on 27 October 2008 Lancashire Constabulary made a representation in respect of both applications stating that they felt that there were exceptional circumstances that would undermine the Crime Prevention Objective of the Licensing Act 2003 if the applications were granted.

Owing to the sensitive nature of the Police representation, Lancashire Constabulary made a request  to the Sub-Committee for further evidence be considered at the hearing that had not been previously disclosed.

The Sub-Committee AGREED for the exclusion of the press, but not the public, under Statutory Instrument 2005 No44, the Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005 Section 14(2) which stated “the licensing authority may exclude the public from all or part of a hearing where it considers that the public interest in so doing outweighs the public interest in the hearing, or that part of the hearing takes place in public”.  And Section 14(3) which states ‘for the purpose of paragraph (2), a party and any person assisting or representing a party may be treated as a member of the public’.

The Sub-Committee also AGREED to a request from the applicant’s legal representative to change the order of the proceedings to allow the Police representation to go first, in order for the applicant to respond.

The Sub-Committee received further evidence from Lancashire Constabulary relating to confidential  intelligence reports.

The applicant along with a representative from Scottish & Newcastle Brewery and the Brewery  legal representative attended the meeting to put forward their representations in support of the applications.

Counsel for the Police as well as Police Officers made representations against the application on the grounds that there were exceptional circumstances that could undermine the Crime Prevention objectives as set out in the Licensing Act 2003 if the applications were granted.

(At the conclusion of both applicants and the Police presentation of their representations and the Sub-Committee questioning, the applicant and the Police representatives left the meeting).

The Sub-Committee then gave due and careful consideration to all aspects of the applications, both the applicants and the Police’s representations; the implication of the licensing objectives; and the courses of action available and arrived at the following decision:

DECISION FOR:

Application to vary the Premises Licence to specify an individual as a Designated Premises Supervisor under Section 37 of the Licensing Act 2003 relating to the premises known as the Rose and Crown, St Thomas’s Road, Chorley.

The Sub-Committee convened to consider a report from the Corporate Director of Governance to determine whether an Application to Vary the Premises Licence to specify an individual (Emma Louise Mayron) as a Designated Premises Supervisor can be granted.

The Licensing Sub-Committee considered carefully the applicant’s representations and the verbal and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.