notification of chairman and outline of procedure

The Chairman opened the meeting by introducing the Sub-Committee and the Officers present. He then outlined the procedure that would be followed.

declarations of interest

No interests were declared.

part b minutes for information

review of premises licence under the licensing act 2003 - costcutter, 21 east street, sittingbourne

The Chairman introduced the report for a review of the premises licence of Costcutter at 21 East Street, Sittingbourne. This had been called at the request of Kent Police following allegations of underage sales of alcohol and a breach of the licence conditions in respect of CCTV.

Mr Rowley, the Police Licensing Officer, explained that they had received several complaints of underage sale of alcohol at the Costcutter store in East Street. He explained that a request to view the CCTV data was made but was not provided within 48 hours. An extension was requested but the data was still not provided, therefore the licensee was in breach of their licence. He drew attention to the proposed extra conditions highlighted in the report. He considered these would help to establish strong management of the premises in addition to the existing conditions and to prevent further incidents.

Mr Dillon, Agent for the Licensee, presented the case on behalf of the applicant Mr Logendran. Mr Dillon apologised for his client's absence and stated that although there was no direct evidence of underage sale of alcohol at the premises, both he and the applicant, Mr Logendran had met with Mr Rowley, the Police Licensing Officer, and agreed that the situation needed to be regularised. Mr Dillon noted the condition recommended by the Police Licensing Officer in respect of training to BII Level 1 which he considered to be reasonable. He went on to explain to the Sub-Committee that the proposed three day suspension could only take place 21 days before the decision was issued to allow for the appeal period.

Mr Rowley requested that the three day suspension period should be on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday, as these were the days when most complaints had been received. Ms Price (SBC's Assistant Solicitor) advised that to ensure the three day suspension of the premises licence took place after the 21 day appeal period the suspension period should be from 1st July to the 3rd July 2010.