Agenda and minutes

Prior to commencement of the meeting, it had been agreed that Councillor Gregory would chair the meeting. The Chair then invited all parties present to introduce themselves.

Members and Officers are reminded to make any declarations of pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests that they may have in relation to items on this agenda and are reminded that they should re-declare their interest before consideration of the item or as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

Members and officers should make their declaration by stating :

a) the item they have the interest in

b) whether it is a pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial

c) the nature of the interest

There were no declarations of interest made.

The Chair confirmed there were no urgent items.

An application for the review of a premises licence relating to Premier, 220-222 Chichester Road, Bersted, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO21 5BE has been received from West Sussex Trading Standards Service as a responsible authority that contends that the licensing objectives of the Protection of Children from Harm and Prevention of Crime and Disorder have been undermined.

The Chair asked if any representations had been received to enable the hearing to be dispensed with and was advised by the Licensing Officer that none had been received.  The hearing was then formally commenced. 

          The Licensing Officer outlined the detail of the case for an application to review a premises licence for a premises known as Premier, 220-222 Chichester Road, Bersted, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO21 5BE under Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003. The application had been made by West Sussex Trading Standards Service, a responsible authority, who contended that the licensing objectives of the Protection of Children from Harm and Prevention of Crime and Disorder had been seriously undermined.

A representation had also been received from the Licence Holder’s consultant, Mr S Panchal of Personal Licence Courses UK Ltd, which Members of the Sub-Committee had been supplied with in advance of the hearing.

Following the Council’s procedure for Licensing Sub-Committees, detailed representations were heard from West Sussex Trading Standards Service, acting as the Responsible Authority. This was followed by questions from the Sub-Committee and other parties present which were responded to at the meeting.

The Licence Holder’s representative made representations and the Licence Holder answered questions from the Sub-Committee and other parties present.

During the hearing, Members of the Sub-Committee were also presented with a press release from Trading Standards; and training records of the staff employed at Justin Retail from the Licence Holder.

Following the summing up of Trading Standards and the Licence Holder’s representative, the Sub-Committee retired to consider its decision.

On reconvening the meeting, the Chair advised that the Sub-Committee had taken into account all the representations made before them, both written and oral in respect of this matter, and also had due regard to the Statutory Guidance, the Council’s own Licensing Policy and licensing objectives. The decision of the Sub-Committee was then delivered to all present.

The Sub-Committee

RESOLVED that

1)    The licence be suspended for a period for two months with immediate effect

2)    The Premises Licence conditions be updated to include those suggested by Sussex Police in their written representation, they relate to the operation and use of CCTV, the Challenge 25 Policy and conditions for an alcohol delivery service at pages 20 – 23 of the report.

……………………………….. Chair