Agenda and minutes

Licensing Panel - Thursday 17 October 2019 7.30 pm

Venue: Committee Room 5, Harrow Civic Centre, Station Road, Harrow, HA1 2XY

Contact: Nikoleta Nikolova, Senior Democratic and Electoral Services Officer  Tel: 020 8424 8284 E-mail:  nikoleta.nikolova@harrow.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

62.

Appointment of Chair

To appoint a Chair for the purposes of this meeting.

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That Councillor Dean Gilligan be appointed Chair of the Licensing Panel Hearing. 

63.

Declarations of Interest

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

 

(a)               all Members of the Panel;

(b)               all other Members present.

Minutes:

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no declarations of interest made by Members

64.

Minutes

[Note:  Licensing Panel minutes are:-

 

(1)          approved following each meeting by the Members serving on that particular occasion and signed as a correct record by the Chair for that meeting;

(2)          not submitted to the next panel meeting for approval.

 

Reasons: The Licensing Panel is constituted from a pooled membership. Consequently, a subsequent Panel meeting is likely to comprise a different Chair and Members who took no part in the previous meeting’s proceedings. The process referred to at (1) above provides appropriate approval scrutiny].

Minutes:

(See Note at conclusion of these minutes).

65.

Licensing Procedures pdf icon PDF 65 KB

Procedure to be followed at an oral hearing.

Minutes:

The Chair asked the Panel Members, officer/s, Responsible Authority/ies and other attendees at the meeting to introduce themselves and then outlined the procedure for the conduct of an oral hearing, which was set out in the agenda.

RESOLVED ITEMS

66.

Application for review of the premises licence for Transilvanya, 18 North Parade, Mollison Way, Edgware, Middlesex, HA8 5QH pdf icon PDF 149 KB

Report of the Corporate Director of Community.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

In attendance:

 

Legal Adviser:

Lina Amir

Licensing Officer:

Ash Waghela

Licence Holder:

Andrea Dutta-Spatariu

Business Owner:

Constantin Duta

Metropolitan Police:

 

PC Downes

PC Johnson

Observers:

 

PC Bignall

SotnamSohota

Natasha Cockar

 

The Panel carefully considered all the relevant information including:

 

·                     written and oral representations by all the parties

·                     the Licensing Act 2003 and the steps that are appropriate to promote the licensing objectives

·                     the Guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003

·                     Harrow Council’s Licensing Policy

·                     Human Rights Act 1998.

 

Members of the Panel also took into consideration the following, full details of which were set out in the Decision Notice sent to all interested parties:

 

·                     the Police had observed that the licensee had not upheld one or more of the four licensing objectives, the licensee had breached the licence conditions and sold smuggled goods.  During a visit on 8 March 2019 low priced cans of beer were discovered, raising suspicion of unpaid duty tax.  The DPS was not available for discussion at the time of visit and no contact was made despite Police follow up;

 

·                     a further joint visit by the Police and HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) of the premises made on 14 August 2019 had established that alcohol was being routinely purchased in cash from a man in a van.  No evidence of duty payment or proof of purchase was evident, resulting in the seizure of the goods by HMRC;

 

·                     the absence of operational CCTV on the premises, an added breach of the licence conditions, was also observed, with no indication of any plans being put in place by the owner to have it repaired;

 

·                     verbal representations made by the DPS at the Panel meeting acknowledged the inadequate level of oversight and management of the premises as well as the ensuing impact on the local community.  The DPS further stated that the business was struggling to meet demands, including the increased premises rent;

 

·                     consideration of the Guidance issued under section 144 of the Licensing Act 2003 was givenwhich stated that certain criminal activity, such as the use of licensed premises for the sale or storage of smuggled tobacco and alcohol, should be treated as a serious offence;

 

·                     while the submissions from the licence holder and their willingness to surrender the licence were taken into account, the possibility of reinstating the license required a determination of the application.

 

The Panel concluded that, in the circumstances, revoking the licence was an appropriate and proportionate step to take in order to promote all the licensing objectives and, accordingly, 

 

RESOLVED:  That the licence for Transylvania, 18 North Parade, Mollison Way, Edgware, HA8 5QH be revoked.

 

REASONS:  As detailed in the Decision Notice sent to all interested parties and set out in brief in the preamble above.

 

Right to Appeal

 

Any party aggrieved with the decision of the Licensing Panel on one or more of the grounds set out in schedule 5 of the Licensing Act 2003 may appeal to the magistrates’ court within 21 days of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.