Agenda and minutes

The panel is requested to elect a Chairman for the hearing in line with rules agreed by the Licensing and Safety Committee. 

Councillor Mrs Diane Chambers was elected as Chairman. 

To agree that the Chairman, after consultation with the other members of the panel, sign the record of this meeting outside the meeting. 

The Panel agreed that the Chairman sign the record of this meeting outside of the meeting. 

There were none. 

The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

There were none. 

(a)               Personal interests under the Medway Code of Conduct.

A Councillor who declares a personal interest in a matter, including the nature of the interest, may stay, speak, and vote on the matter.

(b)               Prejudicial interests under the Medway Code of Conduct.

A Councillor who declares a personal and prejudicial interest in a matter, including the nature of the interest, must withdraw from the room and take no part in the debate or vote on the matter.

Councillors who have declared a personal and prejudicial interest may make representations, answer questions and give evidence before leaving the room but only if members of the public are allowed to attend for the same purpose.

If an interest is not declared at the outset of the meeting, it should be disclosed as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

There were none. 

Discussion:

The Panel heard an application for a review of the premises licence in respect of Sturdee Sports and Social Club, Stoke Road, Hoo, Rochester.

The Business Development and Licensing Manager informed the panel that in accordance with Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003, the Council had received an application from Kent Police, as a responsible authority, for a review of the existing premises licence in respect of the Sturdee Sports and Social Club, Stoke Road, Hoo.  The Business Development and Licensing Manager stated that following the advertising of the review application, no relevant representations had been received from interested parties, the premises licence holder or any of the other responsible authorities.

The applicant, DC Horner, stated that the reasons for the review were as follows:-

·          There had been a breach of the licensing objective relating to the prevention of crime and disorder as one of the attendees of the event was assaulted by the DJ and suffered a broken cheekbone;

·          The licence holder did not have a copy of the premises licence;

·          Un-licensed activity was conducted in that the provision of music and dance continued until approximately 4am.

DC Horner summarised that the licence holder had failed to keep within the restrictions of the licence, had failed to produce a copy of the premises licence twice and had demonstrated a lack of control and felt that the premises licence should be revoked.

The licence holder, Mr Smith agreed with most of the comments made and explained that the bar had been closed by 1.30pm and the main dance floor had been cleared at approximately 3.30am.  He confirmed that at the time of the incident only three people were on the dance floor.

In response to a question about CCTV footage, Mr Smith confirmed that CCTV was in operation and the recording was seen by at least two police officers.  However, the footage could not be recorded onto any media so the licence holder gave an undertaking to preserve the footage for at least three days.  Unfortunately, the footage for this incident had been deleted.

Mr Smith stated that he had informed the police that the CCTV footage could not be stored for more than three days.  He had not previously been required to download any images from the CCTV unit and was therefore unaware it was unable to do so.  He also confirmed that a licence summary was now displayed at the premises.

Decision:

(1)         The Panel agreed to suspend the premises licence for two weeks;

(2)         The Panel agreed to attach the following conditions to the Premises Licence: -

·        A Personal License holder to be present and working at the Licensed Premises throughout the hours of Licensable Activity;

·        All staff to receive training that is relevant to their role within the Licensed Premises;

·        Individual training records are to be kept for every employee (paid or unpaid) of the nature frequency of the training with copies of the training material;

·        Training records are to be made available to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 570.

Discussion:

The Panel were informed that since the dispatch of the agenda discussions had taken place between the Police and the licensee and there had been an agreement for the licence to be suspended for 72 hours.

Decision: 

The Panel agreed that the license would be suspended from midnight on 2 December 2010 to midnight on 5 December 2010.

The Panel drew attention to the conditions of the licence and to ensure compliance with that.