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 Fearn was elected Chairman for this meeting.

There were none.

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

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. 

This meeting is being held urgently as the Licensing Act 2003 requires expedited premises licence review applications to be considered within 48 hours, pending a full hearing of the issues within 28 days of the date that the application was served.

The meeting was held urgently as the Licensing Act 2003 required expedited premises licence review applications to be considered within 48 hours, pending a full hearing of the issues within 28 days of the date that the application was served.

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 (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

An application has been received from Superintendent Hine, on behalf of the Chief Officer of Kent Police, for an Expedited Review of the premises licence at The Hop and Rye, 4 Wainscott Road, Wainscott, Kent. ME2 4LB, as the premises has been associated with serious crime.

The relevant provisions within the Licensing Act 2003 allow a quick process for attaching interim conditions to a licence and a fast track licence review when the police consider that the premises concerned is associated with serious crime or serious disorder, or both.

The Act requires expedited premises licence review applications to be considered within 48 hours, pending a full hearing of the issues within 28 days of the date that the application was served.

Discussion:

The Senior Licensing Officer outlined the matter before the Panel. He stated that, in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003, the Council had received an application for an expedited (summary) review from Kent Police in relation to the premises licence for the Hop and Rye, 4 Wainscott Road, Wainscott, Kent ME2 4LB, as the premises had been associated with serious crime and disorder. He 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.

The Senior Licensing Officer 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.

The following documents were included in the agenda pack: -

Appendix A - pages 15 to 19, the Application for Summary Review

Appendix B – page 21 to 22, the Certificate.

The Senior Licensing Officer also referred to representations received at 22:25 via email the previous evening which highlighted some media articles relating to the use of prohibition notices for similar matters together with some comments from Mr Greenfield (the co-owner of the premises). The Principal Democratic Services Officer displayed this information at the meeting including the representations from Mr Greenfield.

PC Hunt explained to the Panel this expedited review was taking place in the context of the global pandemic and as such was different to previous expedited reviews, on the basis that there had been no major disturbance, or serious public order incident or even a serious assault which had led to an injury to anyone. He considered that the Panel should not treat this request any less seriously though.

PC Hunt explained the impact of the global pandemic including the various emergency measures introduced by the Government and that the vast majority of people had complied with them, He detailed some of the specific measures introduced during the year including the national lockdown, the introduction of a geographical three tier system, the second national lockdown, and lastly, the current geographical three tier system for which Kent and Medway was operating in tier three (the highest alert level). He explained the impact on pubs and restaurants of these measures. He also referred to increasing infection rates in the Medway area which had seen it experiencing among the highest infection rates in the country. PC Hunt also referred to the various publicity measures in place and the support being provided by Kent Police and the Council’s Trading Standards team.

PC Hunt explained to the Panel the specific incident on Friday 27 November 2020 (20:15) when PC Hill and he, when passing the premises, had noticed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 495.

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. 

Decision:

The press and public were excluded from the meeting during the Panel’s deliberations and decision making in respect of agenda item 6 because consideration of this matter in public would disclosure information falling within paragraph 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, as specified in agenda item 7 (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.