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 declarations of interest or substitute members

To receive any questions from Members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 11.2

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

There were no questions from the public

To consider a report by the Director for Communities, copy attached as item 3

The Committee had before it a report by the Director for Communities a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as item 3. The application has been the subject of formal representation by two responsible authorities and it therefore falls to this sub-committee to determine.

The Licensing Officer introduced the report to the Committee and set out the application before members. The Committee was informed of a volunteered reduction in opening hours. It was confirmed with the applicant that he had provided an accurate outline.

The Licensing Officer was asked question about mediation and asked to clarify amended opening hours.

Representation from Sussex Police

A representative from Sussex Police made a representation which is summarised as follows:

·       Members had before them a detailed letter from the Chief Inspector which set out conditions where there was no objection, and where the police did have an objection;

·       In summary there was not an objection in principle to the granting of the licence however the police did object to the proposed DPS, the hours as amended and certain conditions;

·       There had been a history with the premises and it was entirely appropriate for the authority to impose conditions;

The Sussex Police representative was questioned by members about mediation that had been undertaken.

The applicant’s representative confirmed with the police representative that there had been no primary evidence submitted, that the licensing authority could make a representation as a responsible authority and that representations should be based upon the licensing act.

The representative from West Sussex Public Health made a representation which can be summarised as follows:

·       The representation from Public Health had set out the representation in the papers before the Committee

·       Historically the premises had been given conditions to help promote the licencing objectives;

There were no questions from members

The representative of the applicant questioned the Public Health representative on the role of Public Health in Licensing and the absence of data in conjunction door supervisors and confirmed that public health had not carried out inspections at the premises

Applicant’s representation:

The applicant’s representative made a representation which is summarised as follows:

·       The applicant had attempted to have pre application discussions with the Police but there had been a negative reaction;

·       The Licensing Authority should determine each application on its own merits on balance;

·       Representations should fail if they provide lack of evidence and the representations had provided no primary evidence;

·       The premises was being harassed by the Police;

·       No objections were raised to the application by the Licensing Authority;

·       Conditions had been agreed at a previous review;

·       The application before members was a new application and not an application to vary the licence. The police’s representation threated the application as an application to vary the licence;

·       Incidents in the past had happened at the weekend and it was thought that there was not an automatic need for doormen during the week;

·       The previous licence was when the premises was connected to the neighbouring club and  ...  view the full minutes text for item LCSC/9/20-21