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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room B, Town Hall, Blackpool

Contact: Chris Williams  Democratic Governance Adviser

Items
No. Item

1.

APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN

To appoint a Chairman for the meeting.

Minutes:

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

 

Resolved:

That Councillor Hutton be appointed Chairman for the meeting.

2.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST - LICENSING

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).

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

3.

PROCEDURE FOR THE MEETING

The Chairman of the Panel will summarise the procedure and announce the equal maximum amount of time for each party to speak for the hearing.

 

A.         Items 1 and 4 (b) will be undertaken in private session by the Panel and not in the Meeting Room.

B.         Items 2, 3, 4(a) and 4(c) will be recommended to the Panel to be held in public.

C.         The Panel may decide to exclude the public from all or part of a hearing where it considers that the public interest in so doing outweighs the public interest in the hearing, or that part of the hearing, taking place in public. (This includes a party and any person assisting or representing a party)

Minutes:

The Chairman explained the procedure for the meeting including that an equal time limit of twenty minutes for all parties.

4.

APPLICATION TO REVIEW A LICENCE - CONVENIENCE STORE, 27a DICKSON ROAD pdf icon PDF 226 KB

To consider an application by Weights and Measures to review the licence issued in

respect of Convenience Store, 27a Dickson Road, Blackpool.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Licensing Panel considered an application by the Licensing Authority to review the licence issued in respect of Convenience Store, 27a Dickson Road, Blackpool.

 

Mr Lee Petrak, Trading Standards and Licensing Manager, summarised the concerns of the Licensing Authority regarding the prevention of crime and disorder. During the course of enforcement operations on at least two occasions, Licensing Officers uncovered the sale of counterfeit tobacco products and after a search of the premises, had uncovered other products hidden from view. The cost of counterfeit products relative to legitimate tobacco products were cited in order to provide context and explain how lucrative such illicit trading could be for those engaged in the practice. In addition to the non-payment of duty on illicit tobacco, further concerns were noted about the possible ingredients used in counterfeit cigarettes and the potential risk to the health of customers.

 

Mr Soltani, was in attendance with a friend and made representations to the Panel. He acknowledged that he had sold illicit tobacco on several occasions and expressed regret for his actions. He requested that he be given another chance to continue trading.

 

The Panel considered the severity of the criminal activity that had taken place at the premises and the actions of the Mr Soltani which had undermined the principles of law and order and had involved tax avoidance for financial gain. The fact that the sale of illicit tobacco products had occurred again even after the proprietor had been warned about the practice on a previous occasion called into question the suitability of Mr Soltani to hold a premises licence for Convenience Store, 27a Dickson Road.

 

Resolved: That the Premises Licence in respect of Convenience Store, 27a Dickson Road be revoked.