Agenda, decisions and minutes

Licensing Act 2003 Sub-Committee - Wednesday 8th January, 2014 1.00 pm

Venue: Council Chamber - Town Hall

Contact: Gemma George; Senior Governance Officer

Note: Republished agenda pack following the Licensing Act 2003 Sub - Committee's decision to hold the meeting in public session

Items

No.

Item

Apologies for Absence

Declarations of Interest

At this point Members must declare whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest, or other interest, in any of the items on the agenda, unless it is already entered in the register of members’ interests or is a “pending notification “ that has been disclosed to the Solicitor to the Council.

Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

Exclusion of Press and Public

In accordance with Standing Orders, Members are asked to determine whether agenda item 4, application for a personal licence, which contains exempt information relating to an individual and in relation to any action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention or investigation or prosecution of crime, as defined by Paragraph 1 and 7 of Schedule 12A of Part 1 of the Local Government Act 1972, should be exempt and the press and public be excluded from the meeting when this report is discussed or whether the public interest in disclosing this information outweighs the public interest in maintaining the exemption.

Minutes:

Members of the Committee were asked to consider whether to hold the hearing in exempt session, which was in accordance with paragraph 1 and 7 of Schedule 12A of Part 1 of the Local Government Act 1972 in that it contained information relating to an individual and information relating to an action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention or investigation or prosecution of crime.

Resolved: The Committee unanimously agreed to discuss the application for a Personal Licence in public session.

Application for Personal Licence - Mr Akar Ahmed PDF 89 KB

Additional documents:

Mr Ahmed - Personal Licence Public App following Committee decision to hold in public session 140108 , item 4. PDF 3 MB

Decision:

DECISION NOTICE - LICENSING ACT 2003 SUB-COMMITTEE

APPLICATION OF A PERSONAL LICENCE – MR AKAR AHMED

8 JANUARY 2014

This Decision Notice refers to the application of a personal licence for Mr Akar Ahmed.

We have considered the submissions made before us today by the Police relating to their objections to the granting of this personal licence as applied.

The Police are concerned that the conviction dated 28 January 2013 is of a sufficiently serious nature and is relatively recent, that this application underlines the licensing objective of the prevention of crime and disorder.

The applicant stated that he was unaware that he had in his possession the prohibited weapon.

He states that he was applying for the licence on behalf of his father. It is our decision to not grant this licence as applied for by Mr Akar Ahmed for the same reasons as stated by the Police.

We believe that this is a serious offence which undermines the licensing objective of the prevention of crime and disorder, given the recent date of conviction.

The applicant may appeal to the Peterborough Magistrates Court within 21 days of receiving this formal notice at:

Peterborough Court House, Bridge Street, Peterborough, PE1 1ED. Tel No. 0845 3100575. There is a fee to pay.

Councillor

Sub-Committee Chairman

Minutes:

Meeting of the Licensing Act 2003 Sub-Committee

held at the Town Hall, Peterborough on Wednesday, 8 January 2014

RECORD OF DECISION

1. Apologies for Absence		There were no apologies for absence received.
2. Declarations of Interest		There were no declarations of interest.
3. Exempt Session		Members of the Committee were asked to consider whether to hold the hearing in exempt session, which was in accordance with paragraph 1 and 7 of Schedule 12A of Part 1 of the Local Government Act 1972 in that it contained information relating to an individual and information relating to an action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention or investigation or prosecution of crime. Resolved: The Committee unanimously agreed to discuss the application for a Personal Licence in public session.
4. Application		Application of Personal Licence – Mr Akar Ahmed
4.1	Application Reference	MAU 068328
4.2	Sub-Committee Members	Councillor (Chairman) Thacker Councillor Saltmarsh Councillor Miners
4.3	Officers	Darren Dolby, Regulatory Officer – Licensing Colin Miles, Lawyer – Legal Advisor to the Sub-Committee Karen Dunleavy, Governance Officer – Clerk to the Sub-Committee
4.4	Applicant	Mr Akar Ahmed
4.5	Nature of Application	Application Type Personal Licence Summary of Review Application In accordance with section 117 of the Licensing Act 2003, following the submission of an application for a Personal Licence from Mr Akar Ahmed, following a disclosure of a criminal offence a Responsible Authority, the Licensing Authority was required to hold a hearing. Following the criminal conviction disclosure by the Applicant, the Licensing Authority received a notice of objection to the granting of a Personal Licence (Section 120 (5) Licensing Act 2003) from the Chief of Police for Cambridgeshire Constabulary. A summary of the issues raised within the representations included: The Applicant had a conviction for a relevant offence (Schedule 4 of LA2003) for the possession of prohibited weapon (weapon for discharge of noxious gas); and The offence was viewed particularly seriously by the Constabulary’s Licensing Team and the conviction date of 28 January 2013 was relatively recent.
4.6	Licensing Objective(s) under which representations were made	3.2 1. The Prevention of Crime and Disorder
4.7	Parties/Representatives and witnesses present	Applicant / Responsible Authority The Licensing Officer, who presented the case on behalf of the Licensing Authority. Responsible Authorities PC Grahame Robinson, who was present on behalf of Cambridgeshire Constabulary. Applicant / Representative Mr Akar Ahmed, the Applicant was in attendance and was not accompanied by a representative.
4.8	Oral representations	The Regulatory Officer addressed the Sub-Committee and outlined the main points with regards to the application. Responsible Authority Darren Dolby, addressed the Sub-Committee. The key points raised during his address, and following questions from the Sub-Committee were as follows: A person that sought a Personal Licence had a duty to provide information regarding any criminal offence relating to them as part of the application; Following the criminal offence declaration, the Licensing Authority had a duty to inform the Police of the disclosure, in order for them to make representations to uphold the ... view the full minutes text for item 4.