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

Agreed that Councillor Rennie is appointed as Chair and Councillor Sam Davey is appointed 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 in accordance with the code of conduct.

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.

The Director of Public Health will submit a report regarding an application to vary a premises licence to specify an individual as designated premises supervisor – James William John Wright.

Application to Vary a premises Licence to Specify an Individual as Designated Premises Supervisor Under S37 Licensing Act 2003 – by James William John Wright in respect of The Plymstock Inn, 88 Church Road, Plymstock

The Committee having –

2.     granted a 30 minute adjournment of the hearing upon the Applicant’s non-attendance, 

3.     heard that an attempt had been made to speak to the Applicant on the telephone this morning but the phone was not answered

4.     received confirmation from the Licensing Officer that:-

a.         the Applicant had been served with notice of the date and time of today’s hearing and had responded by e mail dated 6 December 2015 confirming he considered a hearing to be necessary and would be representing himself at today’s hearing

b.         the Applicant, on making his application  in respect of the Plymstock Inn pursuant to S37 of Licensing Act 2003 to vary the current premises licence to specify an individual as Designated Premises Supervisor, namely himself, included a request that the variation applied for should have immediate effect

c.         the Hearing had already been adjourned from 17 November 2015 until today at the request of the Applicant as he would be on a Cruise for 2 weeks at the time

5.     considered the terms of S38(3) Licensing Act 2003 and Regulation 20 Licensing Act 2003(hearings) Regulations 2005

6.     heard the following oral representations from the police as to whether the hearing should be adjourned or proceed in the absence of the Applicant

ORAL REPRESENTATIONS- police

The police submitted that the hearing should proceed today. The hearing had been adjourned once already as the Applicant was on holiday; he had been given sufficient notice. The police representations which had led to the need for today’s hearing, relate to whether or not the Applicant can fully engage with the responsible authorities. With that in mind and the busy Christmas period and the fact that the Plymstock Inn is a busy community pub which he is asking to take control of, they felt it would be a retrograde step and risky if the matter is not resolved today. They believed it was in everyone’s interest, to decide one way or the other and asked that the hearing proceed so that there is a resolution

7.   The committee held that the hearing should proceed today.  It gave the following reasons:-

• It concluded there were strong reasons to proceed with the hearing today.
• The applicant had already been granted an adjournment at his request whilst he was on holiday;
•  he had received good notice of today’s hearing and indicated  a hearing would be necessary and he would be attending and representing himself;
• that despite  being telephoned this morning he had not answered;
•  he had made no contact with the Licensing Office or Democratic Support to say he was unable to attend or the hearing would not be needed;
•  given the nature of the concerns expressed by the police  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

There were no items of exempt business.