Agenda and minutes

Licensing Hearing Panel - Tuesday, 19 January 2016 9.30am

Venue: Meeting Room 2 - Level 3, Gun Wharf, Dock Road, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TR. View directions

Contact: Rosie Gunstone, Democratic Services Officer/Stephen Platt, Democratic Services Officer

Items
No.	Item
622.	Election of the Chairman The panel is requested to elect a Chairman for the hearing in line with rules agreed by the Licensing and Safety Committee. Minutes: Councillor Carr was elected as Chairman for the meeting.
623.	To receive apologies for absence Minutes: There were none.
624.	Record of the meeting To agree that the Chairman, after consultation with the other members of the panel, sign the record of this meeting outside the meeting. Minutes: It was agreed that the Chairman, after consultation with other Members of the Panel, would sign the record of this meeting outside the meeting.
625.	Declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests and other interests A member need only disclose at any meeting the existence of a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) in a matter to be considered at that meeting if that DPI has not been entered on the disclosable pecuniary interests register maintained by the Monitoring Officer. A member disclosing a DPI at a meeting must thereafter notify the Monitoring Officer in writing of that interest within 28 days from the date of disclosure at the meeting. A member may not participate in a discussion of or vote on any matter in which he or she has a DPI (both those already registered and those disclosed at the meeting) and must withdraw from the room during such discussion/vote. Members may choose to voluntarily disclose a DPI at a meeting even if it is registered on the council’s register of disclosable pecuniary interests but there is no legal requirement to do so. Members should also ensure they disclose any other interests which may give rise to a conflict under the council’s code of conduct. In line with the training provided to members by the Monitoring Officer members will also need to consider bias and pre-determination in certain circumstances and whether they have a conflict of interest or should otherwise leave the room for Code reasons. Minutes: Disclosable pecuniary interests There were none. Other interests There were none.
626.	Urgent matters by reason of special circumstances 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. Minutes: There were none.
627.	Application to vary a Premises Licence - Dixy Chicken and Pizza, 46 Canterbury Street, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 5TX PDF 140 KB The applicant has applied to vary a current Premises Licence in respect of Dixy Chicken & Pizza, 46 Canterbury Street, Gillingham ME7 5TX to extend the hours of trade in respect of: - Late night refreshment - Tuesday & Wednesday from 23:00 to 02:30 hours the following morning and Thursday from 23:00 to 03:00 hours the following morning. All responsible authorities have been consulted in line with the Licensing Act. Representations have been received from the police, local businesses and members of the public and to date no agreements have been reached. Additional documents: appendix to Dixy Chicken and Pizza, 46 Canterbury Street, Gillingham, Kent ME7 5TX , item 627. PDF 9 MB Minutes: Discussion: The Licensing and Local Land Charges Manager advised that, in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003, the Council had received an application for a variation of a premises licence in respect of Dixy Chicken and Pizza, 46 Canterbury Street, Gillingham. She advised that the application had been correctly advertised in the local press and notices displayed at the premises for the required timescale. The following documents were included for the Panel’s consideration: Appendix A – pages 9 to 29 – a copy of the original application submitted. Appendix B – pages 31 to 33 a copy of the existing licence Appendix C – page 34 – a location plan showing the approximate location of the application Appendix D – pages 35 to 105 copies of representations received from the Police, local businesses and members of the public. In accordance with section 9.14 of the Amended Guidance to the Licensing Act, Licensing officers had been in discussions with Planning and it was confirmed that the current planning position was for class A3 (take away and café). The application was brought to the Panel for consideration because of the relevant representations received. The applicant’s representative, Mr Hassan, stated that he did not wish to add anything to the detail of the application but responded to a number of questions from objectors as follows: There were no specific plans planned to deal with dispersal of customers from the premises arising from the applied for increase in hours of opening The drivers from Dixy Chicken and Pizza mainly park in the car park at the rear of the premises and after 10pm there is only one driver The reason for the application for an extension of hours was to cater for the needs of students studying at the University late into the early hours He was unable to specify what the licensing objectives were He confirmed he was one of the managers at the premises and tended to work mainly the night shift In the event of anti social behaviour there were three staff at the premises who were trained in self defence who would initially deal with the incident. If that failed the Police would be called by the Safer Medway radio. He stated that sometimes the door staff from Bliss nightclub would assist in this dispersal. He then responded to a query from the Panel by stating that out of the nights applied for an increase he anticipated that only Thursday was likely to be an issue in relation to incidents as the night club was not often used on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The objectors then put forward their views in opposition of the application. Concern was raised by the representative of Bliss night club who referred to the fact that on occasions the night club were unable to comply with their own dispersal policy of moving people from their night club because they congregate outside of Dixy Chicken and Pizza. She emphasised it was not the responsibility of the Bliss ... view the full minutes text for item 627.
628.	Exclusion of the press and public PDF 72 KB It is recommended that the panel exclude the press and public from the meeting during the decision-making process for the reasons set out in the report. Minutes: The Panel resolved that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the decision making process for the reasons set out in the report.