The sub-committee was asked to elect a Chair for the hearing.

RESOLVED –

that Councillor G Saffery be elected Chair for this hearing.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The Chair welcomed all parties to the hearing, introduced the members and officers present and explained the procedure to be followed.

The Senior Licensing Officer confirmed that all parties expected were present.  Mr Panchal would be representing the applicant.   

Application

The sub-committee received a report of the Senior Licensing Officer outlining an application for a new premises licence for DKSR, 164 Whippendell Road, Watford.

The Senior Licensing Officer introduced the report and explained that two representations had been received, one from the Police, a Responsible Authority and Liam Fitzgerald, the Community Safety Co-ordinator for Watford Borough Council, an Interested Party.  The representations had been included as appendices to the report.  The Police had indicated that they considered the application would undermine all four of the licensing objectives.  The Community Safety Co-ordinator had considered the application to undermine the prevention of crime and disorder objective.

The Senior Licensing Officer advised that he had not been informed of any additional materials that needed to be circulated to the sub-committee and other parties. 

The Senior Licensing Officer informed the sub-committee that the premises was not currently licensed.  The history of the premises had been included in the report and was provided only as factual information for members.  A number of potential conditions had been included in the report at paragraph 9.10, should the sub-committee be minded to grant the application.

He reminded the sub-committee that the members would need to consider the application and give reasons for that decision.

The Chair thanked the Senior Licensing Officer and invited questions from the sub-committee members.

In response to questions from the sub-committee the Senior Licensing Officer stated no further information had been received about the applicant receiving any training or information about the CCTV.  He confirmed the applicant and their representative had received the agenda and also been made aware of the representations when they had been received.  In addition the notice of the hearing had been issued on 17 January.  He had not been contacted by the applicant or their representative since the agenda had been submitted.

There were no questions for the Senior Licensing Officer from the Senior Solicitor, the applicant, the applicant’s representative or the Police.

                   Representations

                   The Chair invited Sergeant Luke Mitchell to present the representation on behalf of Hertfordshire Constabulary.

                   Sgt Mitchell informed the sub-committee that he had been the Police licensing officer for the last four years.  The Police had been involved with the application premises since 2010.  The history of the premises was set out in the report.  He referred to some of the background.  Following the licence being revoked there had been a reduction in anti-social behaviour in the area, which implied the licensed premises had been the cause of the problem.  The premises had been given a further opportunity and again within 10 days of the licence being active, the premises licence conditions had been breached.  The licence holder at the time, the applicant’s daughter, surrendered the licence.  In 2018 a meeting had taken place  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.