Agenda and minutes

None.

None.

It was confirmed that all items were Part I and would be heard in public.

Introduction by Licensing Officer

Stephanie Waterford, Licensing Officer, introduced the report to the Sub-Committee and explained the reason for the review followed an application by the Police dated 12 October 2015 for a summary review of the Premises Licence. Officers confirmed that on 13 October 2015, a hearing  imposed interim steps of adding six conditions to the premises licence as listed in the decision notice found at pages 41-46 of the Agenda ('the Interim Steps') under section 53B of the Act  .  Concluding her remarks, she set out the Officer recommendations as found at pages page 27 of the Agenda.

At this point the Chairman advised that as a preliminary issue, he invited comments on the imposition of the interim steps during the appeal period and pending the determination of any appeal that may be made.  The Legal Advisor confirmed that if so determined, the interim steps could remain in force for the 21 day appeal period and pending the determination of any appeal.  She further advised that any decision reached on this preliminary issue would be notified when the Sub-Committee announced its decision.

Mr Somarakis was then invited to address the Sub-Committee on this preliminary issue.  Mr Somarakis advised that he was concerned that the content of his submissions on the preliminary issue would be repeated during his submissions on the main review application. He therefore suggested that he address the interim steps during the body of his main submissions rather than as a preliminary issue. This was agreed by all parties

Representation made by the Applicant

Emly Mitchell addressed the Sub-Committee on behalf of the Metropolitan Police.  She advised that there had been significant discussions with the Premises Licence Holder and his representative, which had resulted in both parties agreeing a range of conditions. She advised that following further discussions which also involved the security provider for the Premises, the conditions suggested by the Metropolitan Police Services as outlined on pages 53 and 54 of the Agenda had been further amended.  These could be summarised as follows:

1.    Condition 2 should be amended so that it would read  "At least two door supervisors shall be on duty…"

2.    The requirement for "pat down searches" in condition 2 should be deleted. Instead, the use of search wands is to be made a condition of entry and/or re-entry.

Mr Somarakis repeated his client's regret over the loss of life. He proposed to focus on conditions that would ensure that such an incident could not repeat itself on the premises.

In explaining these two amendments to agreed conditions, Mr Somarakis advised that there was a shortage of female staff which made compliance with the proposed condition a practical difficulty. This was confirmed by Mr Fox who advised that out of four hundred SIA approved security staff, only 10 of his employees were female. However, the Premises Licence Holder recognised the need for females to be searched prior to entering the premises.  Therefore if the Sub-Committee was minded not to amend the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.