Agenda and minutes

The Democratic Services Officer read out the procedure.

RESOLVED that a Vice-Chair was not required on this occasion.

There were none.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

There was none.

The Chair will, if required, explain the procedure to be followed for the meeting.

The Chair explained the procedure to be followed for the meeting.

Applicant for Review: Avon and Somerset Police, represented by Inspector Steven Mildren and Martin Purchase (Liquor Licensing Officer)

Premises Licence Holder: Technov Ltd, represented by David Holley (Licensing Agent), Kambiz Shayeganzadeh (Director) and Blair Ruddick (DPS)

The Licensing Officer summarised the application. She explained that an application had been received from the Police for a summary review of the premises licence, together with a certificate, signed by the Chief Superintendent, stating that, in his opinion, the premises were associated with serious crime. The Licensing Officer confirmed that, after receipt of such an application, a hearing had to be held within 48 hours to consider whether it is necessary to take any interim steps to prevent serious crime, serious disorder, or both from occurring on the premises and that the review must be determined with 28 days.

Inspector Mildren stated the case for the Police. He said that the premises had been targeted in a covert operation between November and December 2012. During that time, undercover officers had been sold class A drugs on a number of occasions and five individuals had been arrested and four had been charged with drugs offences. In addition to the drug offences, the premises had, since February 2012, been associated with a disproportionate level of other crime and disorder. In the view of the Police, there had been a significant failure, by the licencee, to promote the licensing objectives. He had met Mr Shayeganzadeh on 27 September 2012 to discuss concerns.

A Member asked whether Inspector Mildren had a log of incidents associated with the premises. Inspector Mildren replied that he did not have this with him at the moment, but would be able to provide it as part of the application for summary review, at the full review hearing. A Member asked whether those who had been arrested for drugs offences were employed at the premises. Inspector Mildren replied that he did not wish to discuss this in public session, but would be willing to do so in exempt session. It was

RESOLVED that the Sub-Committee having been satisfied that the public interest would be better served by not disclosing relevant information, in accordance with the provisions of section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for this item of business because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act as amended.

Having received the information from Inspector Mildren, the Sub-Committee RESOLVED to return to open session.

In response to questions from Mr Holley Inspector Mildren stated:

• he had met Mr Shayeganzadeh in 2010 and September 2012 to discuss concerns about crime and disorder associated with the premises; he had discussed specific incidents and informed Mr Shayeganzadeh about undesirable people entering the premises and spoken about promoting the licensing objectives

• he did not have a list of specific incidents with him today

In response to questions from Mr Smith, Inspector Mildren stated:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.