Agenda and minutes

To elect a Councillor from the Sub-Committee to act as Chair for the meeting

Councillor Jennifer Wheeler was elected to be the Chair for the meeting.

The Chair opened the meeting and introduced the Members of the Sub-Committee and Officers present.  The other parties present identified themselves follows:-

·         Mr David Etheridge Senior Practitioner ( Licensing) Worcestershire Regulatory Services

·         PC Andrew Freeman and Inspector Mark Chappell from West Mercia Police

·         Mr Graham Allcott the Licence Holder of the Easemore Club

·         Mr Jake Flanagan from Portcullis Associates representing the Licence Holder

The Chair welcomed all those present to the meeting.  With regard to the procedure to be followed, the Chair announced that as the application was for a Review the order the parties would speak in would be different to usual.  The order would be that the Licensing Officer speak first, then the Applicant, West Mercia Police, and then the Licence Holder.  The same order would be followed in summing up.

There were no apologies for absence.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and / or Other Disclosable Interest they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

The attached information has been provided on behalf of the Licence Holder, Mr Graham Allcott.

The Sub-Committee were asked to consider an application for the licence of the Easemore Club, 25 Easemore Road, Redditch, Worcestershire, B98 8ER to be reviewed.  The application had been made by Police Constable Andrew Freeman acting on behalf of West Mercia Police.

The Senior Practitioner (Licensing) (SPL), Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) introduced the report.

The application related to three of the Licensing objectives, namely the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety and the prevention of public nuisance.  Members were referred to the application at Appendix 1 of the main agenda pack.

The current premises licence was held by Mr Graham Allcott who was also named as the designated premises supervisor.  Members were referred to a copy of the current premises licence at Appendix 2.

The application had been advertised and served on the Responsible Authorities.  It was noted that no representations had been made by any of the Responsible Authorities.  Five persons had submitted representations and copies of these were set out at Appendix 3 of the report.  The representations supported the application made by the police and raised concerns regarding Mr Allcott and activities at the Easemore Club (the club).

Members were reminded that in deciding the application they should have regard to the licensing objectives, the section 182 guidance, and the Council’s own Statement of Licensing Policy.  The Members should also have regard to the representations made and evidence presented at the hearing.

The steps the Sub-Committee could choose to take in determining the application were set out at paragraph 5.4 of the report and would include:-

·         to modify the conditions of the licence by altering, omitting or adding a new condition;

·         to exclude a licensable activity from the scope of the licence;

·         to remove the designated premises supervisor;

·         to suspend the licence for a period not exceeding three months;

·         to revoke the licence.

At the invitation of the Chair PC Andrew Freeman of West Mercia Police addressed the Committee in support of the application for the Review of the club.

PC Freeman referred Members to his statement which set out details of all calls the police had received about the club and the incidents the police had had to attend for the period from January 2018 to August 2018.  PC Freeman went through the statement and summarised the incidents in chronological order.

In January 2018 the police had been contacted by Graham Allcott and staff reporting problems of drunk persons on the premises and one fight. 

Over the next three months there were six incidents including anti-social behaviour, fights, assaults, a customer threatening staff and a toddler that had gone missing from its family who were at the club.

There was a large spike in incidents in May with calls received from members of the public, staff at the club, Graham Allcott and ambulance crews.  The incidents recorded included anti social behaviour, fights, reports of drug taking and general nuisance behaviour.

In response to the increase in the number of reports to the police, on 06  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.