Agenda item

Mrs Brown, the Council’s Legal Advisor for the Sub-Committee, informed Members that Mr Bryan as the sole director of the Warwick Arms Limited, who were the holder of the premises licence, was currently remanded in custody so there had been very limited communication through no fault of his own.

Mrs Brown detailed to Members that the premises had been subjected to a closure order and that the Licencing Authority were required to hold a Hearing within 10 working days of receiving notice from the magistratescourt.

The agenda papers and all relevant papers were sent to the registered premises address and a copy was also sent to Mr Bryan whilst in custody.

Mrs Brown explained that having spoken with Miss Marshall, Mr Bryan had indicated that he would like to address the Sub-Committee via video link, as the sole director of the Warwick Arms Limited, who were the holder of the premises licence. However, during the course of the meeting a clear line of communication could not be established with the prison to facilitate this.

Having left the meeting room to answer a call from Mr Bryan, Miss Marshall returned and informed the Sub-Committee that a video link had been setup and that Mr Bryan was now awaiting to be called in to the meeting.

With the consent of the Chair, the meeting was adjourned in order to allow Officers time to contact the prison to identify if a video link had been established with Mr Bryan to allow him to remotely attend the meeting.

Accordingly, the meeting stood adjourned from 13:32 hours to 13:53 hours.

Having reconvened, the Chair asked Mrs Brown to update the Sub-Committee.

Mrs Brown detailed that upon speaking to the prison video unit, an officer had informed her that Mr Bryan was not in their video unit waiting and that they were not aware of Mr Bryan having a scheduled meeting video link. Mrs Brown advised that the prison service were unable to arrange a video link for the hearing but had indicated that an application for a link could be made but that it was not possible for that to be arranged for this hearing.

In consideration of the preamble above, Mrs Brown asked Members to retire to consider if they were minded to adjourn the meeting and to consider whether to reconvene at a later date.

Mrs Brown advised the Sub-Committee that the rules of natural justice gave everybody the right to be heard or have sufficient time to submit representation.  PC Norris indicated that the police would support a decision to adjourn the meeting to a future date should Members be minded to do so.

With the agreement of the Chair, the meeting stood adjourned from 13:55 hours to 13:58 hours.

Having reconvened, the Chair informed all those present that Members had agreed that Mr Bryan should be given the opportunity to address the Sub-Committee.  Therefore, it was

Resolved that

the meeting be adjourned until Wednesday 8^th February 2023.