Agenda and minutes

          The Committee (acting as Licensing Committee under the Licensing Act 2003) met following an application to review the Establishment Old Town Hall Victoria Square Widnes made by Cheshire Police.

          In attendance was the applicant Cheshire Police represented by Paddy Whur (Walker Morris Solicitors) also in attendance were Superintendent Sarah Boycott, PC Chris Carney Inspector Simon Blackwell and Ian Seville Police Licensing Officer.

          In addition the Premises Licence Holder Stephen Lawler was present and represented by Martin Stafford (DWF Solicitors) also in attendance were Dennis Riley Designated Premises Supervisor and Steve Gibbons Head Doorman.

          The Council’s legal advisor, John Tully, introduced the parties, outlined the procedure to be followed and summarised the nature of the application.  Mr Tully also advised the Committee of the following documents which were to be referred to at the hearing:- 

• The committee item (coloured blue)
• The initial review application documents from the Police received 15 November 2010 (coloured white). This was referred to as the “White Bundle”.
• The additional information from the Police received from Cheshire Police on 4 January 2011 (coloured pink). This was referred to as the “Pink Bundle”.
• The amended information from the Police received from Cheshire Police on 11 January 2011 (coloured green). This was referred to as the “Green Bundle”.

          To avoid confusion Mr Tully explained that the agenda contained a verbatim extract from the White Bundle and summarised the content of the White Bundle. The Pink Bundle replaced pages 10 to 25 of the White Bundle (thereby extending the period in which incidents were listed to 1^st January 2011). The Pink Bundle also included a statement by Superintendent Boycott. The Green Bundle replaced pages 22 to 32 of the Pink Bundle and comprised an amended statement by Superintendent Boycott. Mr. Whur confirmed that this was a correct summary.

          The premises licence holder had previously supplied to the Licensing Section (on 11^th January) and to the Police a DVD comprising CCTV footage of Victoria Square but had not submitted any documents relating to the hearing.

          The Police grounds for the review were set out in the committee item.  The full review file was copied and sent to the Committee members prior to the hearing.

The hearing

          Prior to the hearing commencing Mr Whur requested an additional 10 minutes for the applicant to put their case making a total of 30 minutes.  Both the Committee and Mr Stafford agreed to the time extension.

          Mr Whur presented the case on behalf of the Applicant Cheshire Police and called on Superintendent Boycott, PC Carney and Inspector Blackwell to give evidence relating to the documents supplied by the Police.

          The question was raised as to whether it was appropriate for the Committee to consider those incidents in the Pink Bundle which had occurred prior to 17^th August 2010. Those incidents had already been taken into account by the Committee at a hearing held on 17^th August 2010 in respect of the same premises.

          Mr. Whur confirmed that he would not be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.