To appoint a Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Councillor Grey be appointed Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

To receive any declarations of interest.

Councillors  Alexander and Bicknell, both declared a personal interest for item 4 as they are both RBWM representatives at the Royal Berkshire Fire Authority.

To consider an application to review a Premises Licence at The Copper Horse, Ward Royal Parade, Alma Rd, Windsor SL4 3HR.

The Chairman welcomed all the parties to the meeting, introduced the Sub-Committee Members and explained the procedure, which all indicated they understood.

Licensing Officer

Greg Nelson, Trading Standards/Licensing Lead, introduced the application from Thames Valley Police to Members to be considered to review the Premises Licence of the Copper Horse public house, situated in Ward Royal Parade, Alma Road, Windsor. The Licencing Officer explained that since the Agenda and papers had been published, further evidence had been received from the Licence Holder and from the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue. The Licensing Officer requested that the Panel adjourned to allow time for all parties to read the documentation.

The Panel agreed a short adjournment to read the documentation.

The Licensing Officer reported that his report had been circulated in the Agenda pack. The application from Thames Valley Police to review the premises licence was made under Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003 and was in the Agenda pack. Thames Valley Police had confirmed that all of the required information had been sent to the Premises Licence Holder and to the Responsible Authorities.

The Licensing Officer explained that any such application must be based on one or more of the four licensing objectives contained in the Act. The four objectives are the Prevention of Crime and Disorder, Public Safety, the Prevention of Public Nuisance and the Protection of Children from Harm.

The application from Thames Valley Police, in this case, was based on all four of the licensing objectives which, they allege, are being seriously undermined at the Copper Horse public house.

The Licensing Officer confirmed that, as required, a notice of the application had been placed at the Copper Horse public house, in the Town Hall and on the Council’s website for the required 28 days. The notice had been included in the Agenda pack.

The Licensing Authority could have rejected the application if it had considered it to be frivolous, vexatious or repetitious. This was the first time that an application for a review had been received in respect of these premises and it was considered that the application was an extremely serious one. Therefore the application had not been rejected.

The Licensing Officer advised the Panel on the options they had once the application, the responses from the premises licence holder and all submissions from Responsible Authorities and interested parties had been considered. They options were as below:

·        You can modify the conditions of the licence

·        You can exclude a licensable activity under the scope of the licence

·        You can remove the designated premises supervisor

·        You can suspend the licence for a period not exceeding three months

·        Or you can revoke the licence

The application, on this occasion from the Thames Valley Police was for the licence to be revoked.

The Licensing Officer informed the Panel that the premises licence holder, Miss Alka Singh was being represented by Bonningtons Solicitors. The Licensing team had received written representations for the hearing from Miss Singh on Friday 21 April  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.