Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED: That Councillor Michael Borio be appointed Chair of the Licensing Panel Hearing.

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

[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].

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.

Report of the Divisional Director Environment

In attendance:

The Licensing Panel carefully considered all the relevant information including:

·                     Written and oral representations by all the parties (including the confidential information)

·                     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

The Panel also heard oral submissions from the Applicant amplifying the application and the reasons as to why the premises licence should be revoked.

The Licensing Panel unanimously decided to revoke the premises licence. The Licensing Panel was of the view that there was sufficient evidence before it to reach this view on the basis of the application for a review alone.  They were concerned that the premises had been undermining two of the licensing objectives; those in respect of public safety and the prevention of crime and disorder.

The Licensing Panel was satisfied that employment of illegal workers, found at the premises by Home Office Immigration Enforcement Officers, was serious enough to warrant revocation of the licence.  The fact that the premises licence holder had continued to employ illegal workers, despite repeated action taken by Home Officer Immigration Enforcement only added weight to this.  The Licensing Panel was particularly concerned by the pattern of repeat offending by the Premises.

The Licensing Panel noted the number of times the premises licence holder had been prosecuted in the Magistrates Court and the outstanding large sums of fines she had been ordered to pay in respect of these offences.  The Licensing Panel formed the view that the premises licence holder had no intention of complying with the legal requirements to check the immigration status and/or the right to work in the UK of those that she employed and this had been demonstrated by her repeated offending.  It was noted by the Licensing Panel that the incident that had prompted the review of the licence was the third time illegal working had been identified at the premises in the last two years.  In total, 5 persons with no permission to work legally in the UK had been found on the premises.

The Licensing Panel considered the conditions of the accommodation provided to some of the workers, namely that they were occupying a windowless room without proper heating and unsafe electrical wiring posing to be a potential fire and safety hazard.  This raised concerns over public safety not just for those occupying such premises but for those visiting the premises and for the neighbouring properties as well.

In addition to the above, the Licensing Panel put weight on the fact that the premises licence holder had repeatedly breached both the conditions of the licence and statutory licensing requirements including:

1)            No Premises Licence or Summary were on display and could not be located at time of inspection by the licensing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.

To resolve that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business, on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of confidential information in breach of an obligation of confidence, or of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972: