Agenda and minutes

Councillor Benstead was elected as Chair for the meeting.

No interests were declared.

All parties noted the hearing procedure.

The Licensing & Enforcement Manager presented the report and outlined the application under section 34 of the Licensing Act 2003 to vary the Premises Licence in respect of The Pink Elephant, 16 Milton Road Cambridge CB4 1JY.

 

In response to Members’ questions the Licensing & Enforcement Manager confirmed that the Premises was not within in the cumulative impact area.

 

Applicant’s Representative

 

Mrs Mariyarasa made the following points on behalf of the Applicant:

 

i.             The additional conditions imposed had been followed for one and a half years without any difficulties.

ii.            Attended the Committee meeting for the business and its future

iii.           Asked to be given a chance and for trust to be put in the management of the Premises.

 

The Applicant requested that a statement which had not been circulated prior to the meeting was provided to members. 

 

Members adjourned the meeting at 10:15am so that the Police as a Responsible Authority could consider the representation.  The Police objected to the statement being shown to members. 

 

Members returned to the meeting at 10:33am and the Legal Advisor asked that the Applicant did not refer to anything in the statement during the meeting.   

 

Member Questions

 

In response to Members’ questions, Mrs Mariyarasa made the following statements:

 

i.             The variation application was made to try and get customers back.  Customers that were unable to buy the alcohol that they wanted did not return to the shop and their custom was lost. 

ii.            Street drinkers did not purchase alcohol from the shop.

iii.           The extended hours were sought to try and catch office workers and to get customers back.

 

Police Representatives

 

Pc Sinclair made the following statements:

 

       i.                This application followed a Licensing Sub Committee meeting last year, the Police had applied for the licence to be revoked however the decision of the Licensing Sub Committee imposed additional conditions.

     ii.                The applicants were advised that the additional conditions could be appealed following the Committee’s decision.

    iii.                In October 2014, the applicants asked if the hours and alcohol strength conditions on the licence could be varied.  This suggested that the applicants had not grasped the problems associated with their sale of alcohol.

   iv.                Five breaches of the licence conditions were noted on the 2 and 14 February 2014 which included the sale of alcohol above 5.5%

 

Sergeant Misik made the following additional point after reading from the prepared witness statement which had been submitted as part of the police’s representation:

 

       i.                The anti-social behaviour issues would return if the application to sell alcohol earlier was granted.

 

Members were invited to read the witness statements of Pc Shayle and PCSO Dawson which had been submitted as part of the police’s representation.

 

Pc Nutbeam read from the prepared witness statement which had been submitted as part of the police’s representation.

 

Sergeant Leadbeater made the following additional point after reading from the prepared witness statement which had been submitted as part of the police’s representation:

 

i.             Empathised with a business that had to compete against supermarkets but the Applicant  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.