To appoint a Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

Councillor Alexander proposed Councillor BIcknell to be Chairman for the Panel. This was seconded by Councillor Wilson.

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence received.

To receive any declarations of interest.

 No declarations of interest were received.

To note the procedural details for the hearing.

The Chairman explained the procedure for the meeting. All present indicated that they understood the procedure.

To consider an application for a new Premises Licence under The Licensing

Act 2003 for Pazzia Restaurant, London Road, Ascot, SL5 0PN.

Licensing Officer

The Licensing Lead for the Royal Borough, Greg Nelson introduced the application for Members to consider. It was explained that the application related to a variation to the current licence.

The Licensing Officer had received relevant representation from Thames Valley Police, Environmental Health, Trading Standings, objectors and residents.

The Licensing Officer explained that the application related to a variation to the current license. The Licensing Officer informed the Panel that the application sought approval to expand the extension area from 60 to 66 covers and to extend the licensed hours.

The Licensing Officer explained that the application related to a variation to the existing licence. It was outlined that there were two elements to the application which included, the amended plan of the premises, which included increasing the number of covers within the premises from 60 to 66 and secondly, to vary the licensed hours. The Panel were shown the map of the extended plan of the premises and were directed to the proximity distance of the cottage and surrounding residential area. It was highlighted that the application for extended hours were to extend opening hours to 1.30am (Monday-Thursday) and 2am (Friday-Saturday) when live music and/or recorded activities were taking place.

The Licensing Officer had received relevant representation from Thames Valley Police, Environmental Health, Trading Standards and interested parties (objector). The Panel were informed that if they granted the variation to the current license then further conditions had been submitted. All the representations were available in the Agenda pack.

The Panel were reminded that they should have consideration for the four licensing objectives as set out in the Licensing Act 2003 and the wider community intention when making their decision on whether to permit the variation to the licence, permit with conditions or to reject the variation to the licence.

Questions to the Licensing Officer

Councillor Alexander sought clarification on the extended number of covers that had been applied for. It was confirmed that the application sought to increase the existing 60 covers to 66. A supplementary question was asked by Councillor Alexander which sought to clarify the total occupation of the premises and it was confirmed that this was 100 customers. Councillor Bicknell requested for clarification as to where the shed area was upon the plan drawing within the agenda papers, and this was outlined to the panel.

The chair allowed the objectors to ask questions of the licensing officer. It was deemed that the question was related to a planning query and it was outlined that Planning were a responsible authority and that they had not responded to the application or made representations.

(Applicants arrived at 10.24am)

Applicant’s Case

Mr Rocha introduced himself as Mr Rodrigues’ representative and also introduced Mr Rodrigues as the owner and designated premises supervisor (DPS).

Mr Rocha informed the panel that Pazzia restaurant had been a successful restaurant and that it had received good reviews from customers and patrons. It was outlined that the restaurant employed 8-9 members of staff. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.