Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted by Councillor T. Pilkington, B. Thomson (Assistant Director of Public Protection & Resilience), A. Bucior (Public Protection).

Members of the Licensing Hearing Sub Committee are asked to consider whether they have an interest in any matter on the agenda, and, if so, to formally declare that interest.

There were no declarations of interest made.

Councillor M. Walsh placed on record that she heard about an incident taking place via a family relative who attended the school in question but had no further information on the matter and no involvement with any of the parties concerned.

A report from the Executive Director (Corporate Core) is attached:-

The Licensing Authority had submitted a report for consideration to suspend/revoke a Personal Licence granted under the Licensing Act 2003, for a licence holder who had been convicted of a relevant offence.

In making a decision, the steps the Sub-Committee can take are:-

• To revoke the personal licence if it is considered necessary for the promotion of the crime prevention objective to do so; or
• To suspend the personal licence.
• Take no action

Before any reports were presented a discussion took place on the hearing being held in private and excluding the press (who were present) from the meeting. Ms H. Richardson from the MEN made representations that the report was already in the public domain and the hearing being open allowed the Personal Licence Holder to have their say on the matter. The matter of public interest was also considered and therefore the meeting would continue to be open to the press.

The Chair stated that the report related to a notice that had been given to a personal licence holder stating the intention to suspend or revoke the personal licence due to the licensing authority being notified of a relevant conviction.

Before deciding whether to suspend or revoke a licence the licensing authority must give consideration to;

·       any representations made by the licence holder

·       any decision of a court

·       any other information which is considered relevant.

The Chair reported the Licensing Act 2003 and the Policing and Crime Act 2017 was the relevant legislation. However, due to the notice served (Appendix 2 in the report attached to the agenda pack) stating a ‘Conditional Caution’ and not a ‘Conviction’ a decision on this matter could not be made today until further legal representations were received from Greater Manchester Police.

Delegated decision

It was therefore agreed that Members of the Licensing Hearing Sub Committee postpone the meeting until a future date to allow for further legal information to be received on the representations.

The Council’s Legal Officer advised the Police representative and Ms L. Shine that they may both wish to seek their own independent legal advice ahead of any future meeting.