Agenda and minutes

Councillor Carr was elected as Chairman for this meeting. 

An apology was received from Councillor Etheridge.

 It was agreed that the Chairman, after consultation with the other members of the Panel, would sign the record of this meeting outside the meeting.

The Chairman of the Licensing and Safety Committee had agreed that agenda item 10, Prince of Wales, 90 Cecil Road, Rochester, Kent, ME1 2HS, be considered by the Panel as an urgent item following a request for an urgent review to be undertaken being received from Kent Police on 12 March 2018. The reason of special circumstances was that, in the opinion of Kent Police, the premises were associated with serious crime, serious disorder, or both and they had requested that interim steps to immediately address this matter were investigated. As a result it was necessary for the Licensing Hearing Panel to consider the item as a matter of urgency.

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct.  Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 5.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

In accordance with Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003, the Council has received an application from a member of the public for a review of the existing premises licence in respect of Cooling Castle Barn, Cooling Castle, Cooling, Rochester, Kent  ME3 8DT.

Discussion:

The Chairman asked those present to introduce themselves and explained the process that the hearing would follow as outlined in the agenda.

The Principal Licensing and Enforcement Officer said that, in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003, the Council had received an application for a review of the existing premises licence from a member of the public in respect of Cooling Castle Barn. The premises currently operated by way of a premises licence granted in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003. The application had been correctly advertised in the local press and notices had been displayed at the premises for the required timescale. A representation in support of the review had been received from the Environmental Protection Team, who were a Responsible Authority under the Licensing Act 2003. In addition, a significant number of representations had been submitted by interested parties opposing the review.

The following documents were included in the Agenda for the Panel’s consideration:

·         Appendix A - pages 11 to 16 – A copy of the current premises licence.

·         Appendix B – page 17 – A plan showing the location of the premises.

·         Appendix C - pages 19 to 24 – A copy of the application for review.

·         Appendix C1 – pages 25 to 92 and Supplementary Agenda No. 3 – The grounds for review submitted as part of the application for review. Two CDs containing recordings supporting these grounds had been submitted and at the hearing it was agreed that these may be played as part of the hearing proceedings.

·         Supplementary Agenda No. 1 – Appendix C2 pages 5 to 12 – Noise Data submitted as part of the application for review.

·         Appendices D1 and D2 – pages 93 to 176 - Submission from the licensee in objection to the review.

·         Appendices D3 and D4 – pages 177 to 242 - Copies of representations received from interested parties objecting to the review.

·         Supplementary Agenda No. 2 – Appendix D5 pages 3 to 38 – Further copies of representations received from interested parties objecting to the review.

·         Appendix E – Page 243 – A copy of the representation from the Environmental Protection Team Leader supporting the review.

The Principal Licensing and Enforcement Officer confirmed that no other representations had been received from members of the public or other responsible authorities.

The Chairman invited the applicant for review’s legal representative to present the application. Mr Charalambides began by stating that the application for review was not an attack on the venue, its employees or local people. Deregulation of regulated entertainment meant that the relevant conditions on the venue’s premises licence were likely suspended. The suggested conditions submitted with the review application, and detailed in Supplementary agenda no. 3 under the headings licensable activities and opening; use of external areas and smoking area; noise attenuation; noise and dispersal management plan; deliveries; bottle disposal; and security, sought to turn the good practice referred to in Ms Collins’ statement into a set of conditions that could be attached to the licence.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 823.

The applicant has applied to vary the premises licence for Cooling Castle Barn, Cooling Castle, Cooling, Rochester, Kent ME3 8DT. Representations have been received from a member of the public and Environmental Protection in relation to public nuisance.  To date, no agreements have been reached.  No further representations have been received from members of the public or other responsible authorities.

With the agreement of all parties, the Panel deferred consideration of this item pending the outcome of agenda item 6.

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. 

The press and public were excluded from the meeting during the Panel’s deliberations and decision making in respect of agenda item 6 (Application for review of a premises licence, Cooling Castle Barn) on the grounds that it was likely that, if members of the public and press were present, there would be disclosure of exempt information in accordance with paragraph 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, as specified in agenda item 8 (Exclusion of the Press and Public) and, in all the circumstances of the case, the Panel considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

It is recommended that the panel exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of Appendix C of the following item on the grounds that it is likely that, if members of the public and press were present during consideration of the item, there would be disclosure of exempt information in accordance with Paragraphs 1, 5 and 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

The press and public were excluded from the meeting during consideration of agenda item 10 (Application for expedited review of a premises licence, (Prince of Wales) on the grounds that it was likely that, if members of the public and press were present during consideration of this matter, there would be disclosure of exempt information in accordance with paragraphs 1, 5 and 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, as specified in agenda item 9 (Exclusion of the Press and Public) and, in all the circumstances of the case, the Panel considered that the Panel considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

Consideration of interim steps following an application for summary review of the premises licence. 

Discussion:

The Chairman asked those present to introduce themselves and explained the process that the hearing would follow as outlined in the agenda.

The Principal Licensing and Enforcement Officer said that, in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003, the Council had received an application for an expedited review from Kent Police in relation to the premises licence for the Prince of Wales, 90 Cecil Road, Rochester, as the premises had been associated with serious crime and disorder. She explained that the Licensing Act 2003 required expedited premises licence review applications to be considered within 48 hours, pending a full review hearing within 28 days of the date that the application was served.

She stated that the purpose of the hearing was for the Panel to determine what interim steps to take, pending the full review hearing, and explained that the options were:

(a)      the modification of the conditions of the premises licence;

(b)      the exclusion of the sale of alcohol by retail from the scope of the licence;

(c)      the removal of the designated premises supervisor from the licence;

(d)      the suspension of the licence.

PC Hunt explained that there was an ongoing police investigation following a serious incident at the premises in the early hours of Saturday 10 March 2018 for which there was an ongoing investigation. A victim had suffered a deep cut to his face which had resulted in the loss of a lot of blood and required 40 stitches. This amounted to grievance bodily harm, wounding with intent, and the offender had not yet been identified. 

PC Hunt advised that Officers attending the scene had established that the CCTV at the premises was not working as it had been switched off five days earlier, despite CCTV being a condition of the premises licence.   In addition, the crime scene had been cleaned by staff at the premises and Officers had witnessed alcohol being served to customers beyond the licensable hours, at 01.20 hours. On Fridays and Saturdays the premises were licenced to sell alcohol until 00:00 hours and the closing time was 00:30 hours.

The Police were concerned that if the premises remained open prior to a full review hearing, it could be a flash point for further incidents or reprisals. The Police were therefore seeking suspension of the premises license for 28 days to allow for a full review of the licence.

Mr Martin, the Premises Licence Holder, questioned the Police representatives who re-iterated that, due to the nature of the incident, they considered that there would be a risk to safety if the premises remained open prior to the full review hearing. 

In response to questions from members of the Panel, the Police confirmed that they had been monitoring the premises due to concerns of under age drinking, the serving of alcohol after permitted hours, and the absence of a Designated Premises Supervisor. During visits to the premises, drug swabs had been taken and these had showed high readings. As a result a warning  ...  view the full minutes text for item 827.