Agenda and draft minutes

Councillor Owen was appointed as Chair for this meeting.

Councillors are reminded of the need to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests that relate to business on the agenda and which have not already been included in the register of interests, before any discussion takes place on the item. Unless the interest is sensitive, you must also disclose the nature of the interest. In accordance with the Council's Code of Conduct, you must then leave the room and must not participate in any further discussion of the item.  Councillors requiring clarification should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer prior to the day of the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made by Members.

To consider the report of the Service Lead - Environmental Health & Community Safety.

The Chair introduced the Members of the Sub-Committee together with the Legal

Advisor, the Principal Licensing Officer and the Democratic Services Officers.

The Legal Advisor set out the hearing procedure and all parties agreed that the procedure was understood.

The Chair wished to raise some preliminary points of concern in relation to the validity of the application as follows:-

(1)  There was a discrepancy between the proposed activities being operated and the premises opening and closing times;

(2)  The club policy document referred to in the application’s operating schedule was not included in the application submitted; and

(3)  The plans submitted with the application appeared to be incomplete and did not accord with Licensing Act 2003 (Premises licences and club premises certificates) Regulations 2005/42.

The Applicant was in attendance and responded to questions raised by Members in regards to the preliminary issues raised. Particular reference was made to:-

·         There was no intention for there to be any difference in the hours of activity and sale of alcohol. The application would not be amending the hours of operation, and would be no activities planned for when the Premises had closed;

·         The main purpose of the application was to allow non-Members to come into the Social Club and use the facilities;

·         The club policy had not been submitted as part of the application, but was compliant with the Club and Institute Union guidance and provided information such as the membership rules. A copy of the club policy could be provided;

·         The outside areas over which the Licence would cover included the five a side part of the eleven a side football pitch; and

·         An internal ground floor plan had been included, but the first floor plan was missing.

All parties were invited to make representations on these issues.

The Licensing Sub-Committee adjourned to deliberate on the preliminary issues set out above. 

RESOLVED: that the application be refused for the reasons set out in the formal decision notice attached.