The Committee and Scrutiny Support Officer confirmed that the Sub-Committee would comprise Councillors J Brown, M Meerabux and G Saffery.

The Sub-Committee was asked to elect a Chair for the Hearing.

RESOLVED –

that Councillor J Brown be elected Chair for this Hearing.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The Sub-Committee is asked to consider the renewal of the Sexual Entertainment Venue licence at the above premises following a representation from Hertfordshire Constabulary.

Some of their evidence falls within the scope of schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (i.e. exempt information) in that it either relates to an individual, or allows an individual to be identified, and/or contains information relating to any action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime.  For this reason copies have only been supplied to the applicant and the Sub-Committee, and will not be made publicly available.  The Sub-Committee may therefore hear some of the evidence relating to this matter in private.   

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Head of Community and Customer Services setting out details of an objection received from Hertfordshire Constabulary against the renewal of the Sexual Entertainment Venue (SEV) licence at Beavers, 9 Market Street.

All parties present introduced themselves.

The Chair underlined that the application would be considered on its own merits.

Mr Julian Skeens advised the Sub-Committee that he wished to raise preliminary points in relation to what evidence should be considered.  He referred to the CCTV evidence and informed the Sub-Committee that he objected to some of it.  His clients had not yet had the opportunity to see it all.

The Licensing Manager noted that the Police had been reluctant to allow the footage in question to leave their possession; the Applicant had been given the opportunity to view the footage either at the Police Station or at the Town Hall.

The Chair noted that in the interest of fairness, the Applicant should be permitted to view the CCTV in question. 

Mr Jeremy Phillips advised that he had no objection to the Applicant viewing the footage, but he had anticipated that they had already done so.

The Sub-Committee adjourned to allow the Applicant to view the footage in an adjacent room.

Mr Skeens advised that he would wish to make his submissions in private and he wished to inform the Sub-Committee of changes that related to information in the officer’s report to the Sub-Committee.

The Licensing Manager introduced the report.  The Sub-Committee was there to consider the renewal of the SEV licence which had been applied for by Wizard Sleeve Bars Ltd.  The Police were the only statutory consultees and they had submitted an objection.  He explained what the licence covered which was set out in paragraph 3.4 report.  There was no proposal to change the hours of the licence.  The Applicant had proposed two conditions for their licence.  The Premises also had a licence under the Licensing Act 2003 which would not be under consideration by the Sub-Committee.  A representative of Punch Taverns, the Licensing Act 2003 Premises Licence Holder, was present at the hearing as an observer.  Routine inspections had been undertaken, the last being in August 2010 without anything adverse being found.  The Police objection was based on two grounds:

• that the Applicant is unsuitable to hold a licence following a conviction for a relevant offence or for any other reason
• the refusal of a licence if the business to which it relates will be managed by or carried on for the benefit of a person, other than the Applicant, who would themselves be refused a licence if they made the application.

He highlighted that the Sub-Committee had a wide discretion and could take into account anything that they felt was relevant to the application but should disregard anything that was irrelevant.

There was a large amount of evidence from the Police as well as evidence from the Applicant for the Sub-Committee to consider.  Some material before the Sub-Committee was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.