Agenda and minutes

The Democratic Services Officer drew attention to the Emergency Evacuation Procedure.

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.

(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 4.4 Appendix 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 or a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

There was none.

The Sub-Committee RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 26th June 2025 and they were duly signed by the Chair.

The Chair referenced the procedure that would be followed during the course of the meeting.

Those that were present confirmed that they had received and understood the licensing procedure.

The Sub-Committee is asked to consider passing the following resolution:

“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, RESOLVES that the public shall be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business and the reporting of the meeting be prevented under Section 100A(5A), because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended.   

The members of the Sub-Committee agreed that they were 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.

It was RESOLVED that the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business and the reporting of the meeting be prevented under Section 100A(5A), because of the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended.

As a preliminary issue the Service Manager, Legal Services invited the Sub-Committee to determine whether or not they would proceed in the applicant’s absence. She asked the Public Protection Officer (Licensing) to state what attempts had been made to contact the applicant prior to the meeting.

The Public Protection Officer (Licensing) stated that an initial phone conversation had taken place with the applicant following the receipt of the objection from the Police and they were advised that a hearing of the Sub-Committee would be required.

He added that since that time, three emails, two phone calls and one letter had been sent to the applicant to confirm the date of the meeting and provide a copy of Sub-Committee report pack, all of which had been either unanswered or not acknowledged.

He said that no written statement had been offered by the applicant either.

The Sub-Committee indicated that in all the circumstances and taking account of public interest they would proceed in the absence of the applicant.

Ben Allen, Police Alcohol Licensing Officer was present and summarised the objection from the Police that was contained within the agenda pack.

The Chair asked if it was known by how much the applicant was over the legal alcohol limit for driving when the offence was committed.

Ben Allen replied that he did not have that information to hand.

Councillor Toby Simon noted that there were some significant gaps in the timeline between the committed offence (February 2024) and sentencing (June 2025).

Ben Allen stated that the applicant has a list of other offences against their name, but they have not been disclosed as are not relevant to the application before the Sub-Committee.

Councillor Simon noted that this may explain the gaps in time that he had previously mentioned.

The Chair asked if Ben Allen had any further comments to make.

Ben Allen said that the Police believe that the applicant’s conviction is significant enough to raise concerns about their suitability and integrity to hold such a role, which would, if granted enable them to supply alcohol to the general public and authorise others to do so.

The Service Manager, Legal Services addressed the Sub-Committee and stated that even though other possible offences committed by the applicant have been raised today they were not relevant to their determination and they can only concern themselves with the relevant drink driving offence in respect of this application.

Decision & Reasons

Members have determined an application for a Personal Licence in respect of  AB. In doing so they have taken into consideration the Licensing Act 2003, Statutory Guidance, the Council’s Policy, Human Rights Act 1998, case law and the agenda report pack.

As of 10:09am the applicant was not in attendance at the hearing. Therefore, Members had to determine the preliminary issue of whether proceed in their absence. In doing so they took account of regulation 20 of the Licensing Act 2003 (Hearing Regulations) 2005 which provides that (insofar as is relevant):

(2)  If a party who has  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.