The Committee will appoint a Chair and Vice-Chair for this particular meeting.

The Committee agreed to appoint Councillor Stephens as Chair and Councillor Tofan as Vice-Chair for this meeting.

Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

Mr Pond nor a representative attended the meeting. The Committee was advised Ms Price posted the meeting notice on 03 December 2024 and she had made phone calls to the telephone number on the application on 09, 10 and 12 December 2024 but they were not answered nor had Mr Pond called back.

The Police last spoke with Mr Pond’s partner on 04 December 2024.

The committee was satisfied that Mr Pond was aware of the meeting date and proceeded in his absence.

The Committee considered:

a)    The report from the Office of the Director of Public Health;

b)    The Devon and Cornwall Police Case Written Summary;

c)    The Event plan submitted by Mr Pond.

The Police made the following submissions:

a)    It was rare for the Devon and Cornwall Police (“the police”) to object to a Temporary Events Notice (TENs) application. The police take a “light touch approach” and if there were issues then resolution was normally achieved by discussions;

b)    There were approximately 9000 TENs application in Devon and Cornwall each year, it was very rare for the police to object;

c)    The Police were objecting to the grant of the TENs application for this application because  the licensing objectives of preventing crime and disorder and protection of children would be undermined;

d)    The proposed event fell within the definition of regulated entertainment and the police regarded it as a “high risk event” because of the risk from disorder and the consumption of illegal drugs;

e)    Children would be present at the event, therefore the sale of alcohol needed to be managed to prevent it being sold to under 18’s;

f)     TENS boxing events did occur in Plymouth but these were run by operators who had experience of managing these events with well drafted management plans;

g)    The police confirmed it was Mr Pond who had approached them in October 2024 with the details of the planned bare knuckle boxing event and was advised that he would need to produce an event plan;

h)    An event plan was submitted on 02 December 2024 but it was inadequate because it did not address the licensing objectives. There was no detail regarding the organisation/management of the sale of alcohol; procedures for limiting the sale of alcohol to over 18’s; not details of the lay out of the ring/the venue;

i)     On 04 December 2024 the police spoke to Mr Pond’s partner to outline that the event plan was inadequate. The police were informed this was Mr Pond ‘s first event and the first Bare Knuckle fight in the South-West;

j)     The Police advised the committee their role was not to plan the event, that was the applicant’s responsibility. There was plenty of guidance and help for the drafting of the event plan online;

k)    The Police had considered whether the event could proceed if the alcohol element of the application was refused but decided the undermining of the prevention of crime and disorder remained because the inadequate event plan did  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83.