Agenda and minutes

Members and Officers must declare any disclosable pecuniary interests in relation to any business on the agenda. Declarations should also be made at any stage an interest becomes apparent during the meeting.

If in doubt contact the Legal or Democratic Services representative for this meeting.

There were no substitute members.

There were no declarations of interest.

So as to provide the best opportunity for the Committee to provide the public with the fullest answer, questions from the public should be submitted by midday on Thursday 24 August 2023.

Where relevant notice of a question has not been given, the person presiding may either choose to give a response at the meeting or respond by undertaking to provide a written response within three working days.

Questions should be submitted to Democratic Services - democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

(Note: Public Question Time will last for a maximum of 30 minutes)

There were no questions from members of the public.

Pre-submitted Members questions are pursuant to rule 12 of the Council & Committee Procedure Rules.

Questions should be submitted by midday on Thursday 24 August 2023 to Democratic Services, democratic.services@adur-worthing.gov.uk

(Note: Member Question Time will operate for a maximum of 30 minutes.)

There were no questions from members.

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability & Resources, copy attached as item 4.

The Licensing Officer outlined the application explaining that the application for this review had been made by Trading Standards following a alcohol test purchase failure performed by a 16 year old trading standards volunteer. At the time of this event the owner, licence holder and Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) was Mr Gowriedas. The Officer also drew Members attention to the fact that another of Mr Kodeswaran’s premises, in 2022, had its licence revoked under similar circumstances.

The Officer explained that the Licensing Department had, on 15th August 2023, received an application to transfer the premises licence and nominate a new DPS. The proposed new Licence holder was to be S J Harish Ltd and the proposed new DPS was to be Mr Mahendran Gowthaman. He confirmed that, as Sussex Police had raised no objection to this, both were now deemed granted.

The Officer confirmed that two representations from responsible authorities (West Sussex County Council's Trading Standards and Sussex Police) had been received but none had been forthcoming from members of the public. Sussex police were not present at the meeting but the Officer confirmed that they supported Trading Standards view that the licence should be revoked but if not, they had suggested a raft of new conditions to ensure the premises upheld the licensing objectives in the future.

The applicant confirmed that the Licensing Officer had provided an accurate outline of the application.

Questions from Members for the presenting Officer

Members noted that Mr Sinnathamby Jeyanantham had been the seller who had failed the test purchased carried out by Trading Standards and questioned whether the S J Harish Ltd of which Mr Jeyananthan was a director, was the same company who was now deemed the new licence holder of Tarring News and Wine. The Officer confirmed that that was the case. Members asked for confirmation from Officers that Mr Kodeswaran involvement with Tarring News and Wine was now limited to being the landlord. The Officer established that he believed that to be the case but suggested that the new licence holder would be able to confirm that for members in due course.

Representation from Trading Standards

The Trading Standards Officer gave an in depth reiteration of his report within the agenda bundle.

Questions from Members for the Trading Standards

Members asked the Officer to confirm that the current licence holder was not the same as the one at the time of the failed test purchase. The Officer confirmed this was the case but also clarified that, in such a case as this, the criminal offence is committed by the seller of the alcohol, which in this instance was Mr Jeyanantham who was a director of the company that was now deemed the licence holder of the premises.

Questions from Licence holder’s representative for the Trading Standards

The Licence holder’s representative had questions for the Trading Standards Officer regarding the intelligence they had received regarding the premises, the test purchase, the refusal’s log and tobacco age warning posters.

Representation  ...  view the full minutes text for item LCSC/24/23-24