Agenda and minutes

The Licensing Panel considered the appointment of a Chairman for the meeting.

Resolved:

That Councillor Hutton be appointed Chairman for the meeting.

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in doing so state:-

(1) the type of interest concerned

(2) the nature of the interest concerned; and

(3) whether they have or have not sat on a Planning Committee which has previously considered a planning application in respect of a licensed premises which is also subject to consideration for a premises licence as part of the agenda for this meeting.

If any Member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

(Members are asked to also pay particular attention to the guidance sheet on interests supplied with the agenda).

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

The Chairman explained the procedure for the meeting including that an equal time limit of fifteen minutes had been allocated for all parties.

a. APPLICATION AND REPRESENTATIONS SUBMITTED. To consider the attached report

b. DETERMINATION OF THE APPLICATION FOR A PREMISES LICENCE- Al Amir

c. ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DECISION FOR A PREMISES LICENCE- Al Amir

The Licensing Panel considered an application for a Premises Licence in respect of Al Amir, Talbot Road.  Objections had been received from the Local Authority Health and Safety team and Lancashire Constabulary hence the application being referred to the Panel.

The applicant, Mr Peter David Ashcroft was not in attendance and made no representations. The Panel agreed to hear the case in the absence of the applicant.

Mr Mark Marshall presented the application for the review on behalf of Health and Safety. He reported that there had been a number of serious shortcomings with the operation and management of the Al Amir restaurant under the previous licensee. Mr Marshall reported on further concerns about alleged illegal immigrant workers employed at the restaurant. It had also emerged that those workers had been paid cash and at a rate lower than the national minimum wage. In addition, no electrical certificate was provided for the Al Amir restaurant.

With regards to the new applicant, concerns were raised about the propriety of the individual and his lack of relevant experience as a licensee or in the restaurant trade generally. Though Mr Marshall accepted the paper application submitted was of a decent standard, it appeared to be disconnected from the realities of operating licensed premises. Members noted that the previous licensee, Mr Rashid was still the leaseholder and would continue to be for the foreseeable future. According to Mr Marshall, this raised the question of whether it was the intention of the previous licensee to continue to play an active role in the operation of the premises.

PC Pritchard from Lancashire Constabulary was also in attendance and confirmed that the Police shared the same concerns as the Health and Safety team and added that no attempt to contact the Police had been made by the applicant to mitigate their concerns about how the applicant intended to operate the premises. In addition, PC Pritchard expressed concern at the addition of another licensed premised within the cumulative impact zone.

The Panel expressed serious concerns about the issues identified by both Health and Safety, and the Police. They considered that some of the previously identified issues at the premises were of a serious nature and some had not been addressed. In addition, members were not entirely satisfied that the previous licensee would not be involved in some way behind the scenes given that the new applicant had no relevant experience in catering or managing a restaurant.

Members considered a range of alternative options but reasoned the only way to promote the licensing objectives in the future was to refuse the licence.

Resolved:

That the application for a Premises Licence in respect of Al Amir, Talbot Road be refused.