Agenda and minutes

The Sub-Committee will elect its Chairman for the meeting.

It was moved by Councillor Henderson, seconded by Councillor Watson and:-

RESOLVED - that Councillor White be elected Chairman for the meeting.

The Committee is asked to note any apologies for absence and substitutions received from Members.

There were no apologies for absence or substitutions.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Personal Interest, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

Councillor V Guglielmi declared a personal interest in the application in that she had opened the restaurant and had eaten there and also that her husband had recently received an invitation to dine there.  She therefore acted as the Stand-by Member at the meeting.

The Sub-Committee will consider an application for the review of the Premises Licence held in respect of the above premises which has been submitted by Essex Police, being a Responsible Authority, under Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003.

The Chairman (Councillor White) welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave an overview of the procedure that would be followed for the hearing.

The Council’s Licensing Manager (Karen Townshend) then gave a verbal summary of the Report of the Corporate Director (Operational Services) (A.1) and advised that the Sub-Committee had before it, for its consideration, an application for the Review of the Premises Licence held by Mr Syful Alam for the Bengal Diner, Fox Street, Ardleigh, pursuant to Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003.

Members were informed by the Licensing Manager as part of her summary that the application for the review of the Premises Licence for the above had been submitted by Essex Police following investigations by Officers of the East of England Immigration Enforcement Team at the Premises on 8 March 2018 and that this had been received by the Licensing Authority on 13 April 2018. The application for the Review had been submitted on the grounds that the Licensing Objective in respect of the Prevention of Crime and Disorder had been breached because the Premises Licence Holder and Designated Premises Supervisor Mr Syful Alam had been found to be employing persons who had no right to work or stay in the United Kingdom.

It was reported that the review application and its accompanying supporting documents had advised and contained the following:

·           Warrant to Enter and Search Premises dated 8 March 2018.

·           Witness Statement and PNB Notes of Chief Immigration Officer Jack Davis dated 23 May 2018.

·           Witness Statement and PNB Notes of Immigration Officer John Donaldson dated 9 March 2018.

·           Home Office Records of Sibtain Zafar.

·           Home Office Records of Nazrul Islam.

·           Statement of Police Licensing Officer Alan Beckett dated 5 April 2018.

·           Statement of Special Sargeant Catherine Dorrington dated 11 April 2018.

A copy of the Premises Licence Review application and all of the documents referred to in the bullet points above were attached to the report in full as Appendix B to item A.1 of the Report of the Corporate Director (Operational Services).

It was also reported that notice of the review application had been made and advertised in accordance with Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003 and the regulations that accompanied it. In particular, a notice detailing the review application had been clearly displayed on the premises concerned and on Tendring District Council’s Website for the prescribed 28 day period. Periodic checks had been undertaken by the Licensing Authority to ensure that this was the case. The end of the notice period had been 13 May 2018.

The Sub-Committee was formally advised that the Licensing Authority had accepted the review application and had been satisfied that it had been properly served. The Council’s Head of Customer and Commercial Services was satisfied that the application and the representations that it made were relevant to the licensing objectives and were not vexatious, repetitious or frivolous in nature.

It was confirmed that no representations had been received from any other Responsible Authorities or other persons  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.