The Democratic Services Officer confirmed that the Sub-Committee would comprise Councillors Hofman, Saffery and Stiff.

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

RESOLVED –

that Councillor Saffery be elected Chair for this hearing.

There were no disclosures of interest.

Report of the Senior Licensing Officer

The Chair welcomed all parties to the hearing and explained the procedure to be followed.              

The Senior Licensing Officer advised that the applicant’s agent, Mr Chris Mitchener, was present. He had not heard if the interested party would be attending. It was not a requirement for objectors or applicants to attend hearings. The resident had been contacted on a number of occasions and offered the opportunity to submit written a statement or send queries. No responses had been received. The Sub-Committee agreed to continue with the hearing.

There were no preliminary matters to be considered.

Introduction to the application

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Head of Community Protection outlining an application for a new premises licence for 259-261 St Albans Road, Watford.

The Senior Licensing Officer introduced the report. Members were asked to consider the new application following an objection from an interested party on the grounds of the prevention of public nuisance. The resident, who lived in close proximity to the premises, was not in attendance but the applicant’s agent was present. Following the agreement of conditions with the police, no representations had been received from responsible authorities. The objector had been made aware of the agreement but no comments had been received regarding the agreed conditions. The sub-committee was asked to consider the representation and attach such weight as they saw fit. Mediation had not been pursued as responses had not been received from all parties. It was for the sub-committee to decide which of the actions available to them would be most appropriate to promote the licensing objectives.

Following a question from a member, the Senior Licensing Officer explained that a sensitive licensing area was a specific part of the policy where licensing officers were more likely to make representations on behalf of the council. These would normally be in relation to litter, noise and street drinking. Litter was more associated with takeaways and the applicant had agreed conditions with the police concerning the high-strength alcohol favoured by street drinkers. No objections to this application had been made by the licensing authority.

Responding to a question about conditions agreed with the police, the Senior Licensing Officer noted that there were no standardised conditions but the police were successful at agreeing conditions with local premises and as a consequence, rarely made representations. Specific conditions had been suggested for this premises around high-strength alcohol, given the history of the area, with exceptions made for some Polish brands tailored to the applicant’s operation.

There were no questions from the Senior Solicitor or the applicant’s agent.

Address by the applicant’s agent

The applicant’s agent was invited to address the sub-committee.

Mr Chris Mitchener introduced the application on behalf of the applicant setting out the hours of the application.  There were other off-licences in the immediate vicinity selling alcohol with similar terminal hours. The applicant had another premises 300 metres away and had good experience in the area and with nine other stores in Greater London.  There had been no  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.