| 671 | The Sub Committee received a report of the Corporate Director Enterprise, Tourism and the Environment concerning an application by Essex Police for a review of the existing premises licence at Fat Cats Club, 1st & 2nd floors, 14-16 Southchurch Road Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
The application was presented by Sergeant D Barnes and related to all four of the licensing objectives, namely the prevention of crime and disorder, the protection of children from harm, public safety and the prevention of public nuisance. Ms J Flynn of the Police Licensing Unit was also in attendance at the meeting.
Mr Langley (Director of Licensing Company) was in attendance at the meeting and called five witnesses to speak in his support.
The Sub Committee considered all the evidence and submissions that had been made at the meeting and the written documentation that had been presented prior to the hearing. The Sub Committee also had regard to the National Guidelines and the Borough Council's Statement of Licensing Policy. The Licensing Act 2003 provides a range of powers for the licensing authority on determining a review application which it may exercise where it considers it necessary to do so for the promotion of the licensing objectives. The Government's Guidance to the Licensing Act 2003 (Part 11) states that in deciding which of those powers to invoke, it is expected that licensing authorities should, so far as possible, seek to establish the cause or causes of the concerns which the representations identify. The remedial action taken should be generally directed at these causes and should always be no more than a necessary and proportionate response.
In this particular case, the Sub Committee felt that the causes of the concerns were a number of breaches of the existing licence conditions. The Sub Committee regarded this situation as serious. Mr Langley is both the sole director of the premises licence holder Langtons Leisure Limited and the Designated Premises Supervisor. It was therefore his legal responsibility to ensure the terms of the licence and indeed the licensing legislation were complied with. The Sub Committee felt that Mr Langley had shown a blatant disregard of the licensing legislation and he did not give any satisfactory assurance that matters would improve. It considered that the imposition of further or amended conditions would not resolve the problem nor reflect the gravity of the situation, and it did not believe that a suspension of the licence would result in a discernable and lasting improvement in the way in which the premises would operate. The Sub Committee therefore:-
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