Agenda and minutes

(Director of Governance) To declare interests in any item on this agenda.

There were no declarations of interest pursuant to the Council’s Code of Member Conduct.

The Sub-Committee noted the agreed procedure for the conduct of business.

(Director of Neighbourhoods) To consider the attached report and appendix.

The Chairman of the Sub-Committee, Councillor R Morgan welcomed the participants and introduced the Members and Officers present. The three Councillors that presided over this item were Councillors R Morgan, D Dorrell and M Sartin. The Chairman then requested that the participants introduced themselves to the Sub-Committee.

In attendance on behalf of the premises were; R James, Counsel for Il Bacio and A Sini, the Manager of Il Bacio, Theydon Bois.

In attendance representing Essex Police were; A Ranatunga, Counsel for Essex Police, S Sparrow, Essex Police County Licensing Officer and P Jones, Essex Police, Epping and Brentwood Licensing Officer.

In attendance representing the Home Office Immigration Service were: J Davis, Chief Immigration Officer; M Gear, Immigration Officer and J Denham, Immigration Officer.

Also in attendance were; Mrs J Hirst and Dr D Hirst, supporting the Police Review and J Flaig, reporter from the Guardian.

The Chairman then outlined the procedure that would be followed for the determination of the application.

(a)        The Review before the Sub-Committee

The Licensing Officer apologised to the Sub-Committee informing then that there were two errors in her report which were as follows:

·         Page 9, Item 1: The word Summary be removed before Review as this was a Review and not a Summary Review; and

·         Page 9, Report, Item 3: 4^th line down interested parties should now read ‘any other persons who wish to make relevant representations’.

The Licensing Officer informed the Sub-Committee that on 28 July 2016 an application for a Review of a Premises License under Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003 had been received from Essex Police in respect of a Premises Licence issued to Mr Luigi Funedda, Il Bacio, 19B Forest Drive, Theydon Bois, CM16 7EX. Essex Police were seeking revocation of the premises licence based on the Prevention of Crime and Disorder and Public Safety. A copy of the application for review under Section 51 was served on the holder of the Premises Licence and all responsible authorities.

(b)       Submission by Essex Police

A Ranatunga advised that it was for the Sub-Committee to consider what was proportionate and appropriate for the Premises Licence in order to prevent Crime and Disorder and Public Nuisance.

A Ranatunga highlighted the fact that neither the Premises Licence Holder, Luigi Funedda nor the Designated Premises Supervisor, Andreea Michela Mosteanu, who was in control of the day to day running of the premises, were not in attendance. He also noted their apologies, given by Mr James, who stated that they were otherwise engaged on another business appointment but that they had no objections for this hearing to continue with Mr James and Mr Sini representing them.

A Ranatunga advised that following information and intelligence held by the Home Office Immigration Services, a Magistrates Court Warrant was obtained and on the 30 June 2016 at approximately 4.50pm Immigration Officers entered the premises of Il Bacio, 19B Forest Drive, Theydon Bois. A Colombian male was identified, Mr Romero,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

Exclusion: To consider whether, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press should be excluded from the meeting for the items of business set out below on grounds that they will involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended) or are confidential under Section 100(A)(2):

The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, which came into effect on 1 March 2006, requires the Council to consider whether maintaining the exemption listed above outweighs the potential public interest in disclosing the information. Any member who considers that this test should be applied to any currently exempted matter on this agenda should contact the proper officer at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

Background Papers:  Article 17 - Access to Information, Procedure Rules of the Constitution define background papers as being documents relating to the subject matter of the report which in the Proper Officer's opinion:

(a)        disclose any facts or matters on which the report or an important part of the report is based;  and

(b)        have been relied on to a material extent in preparing the report and does not include published works or those which disclose exempt or confidential information and in respect of executive reports, the advice of any political advisor.

The Council will make available for public inspection for four years after the date of the meeting one copy of each of the documents on the list of background papers.

The Sub-Committee noted that there was no business for consideration that necessitated the exclusion of the public and press.