Agenda and draft minutes

To appoint a Chair for the duration of the meeting.

It was MOVED by Councillor Bird and SECONDED by Councillor Denton and RESOLVED, to:

Appoint Councillor Patsy Cummings as Chair for the meeting.

Members are invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and other registrable and non-registrable interests they may have in relation to any item(s) of business on today’s agenda.

There were none.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business.

The Sub-Committee is asked to consider the objection notice given by the Police in respect of a temporary event notice given by Mr. Ronald Sempa for proposed licensable activities at 112 Whitehorse Road, Croydon, CR0 2JF.

The Chair outlined the procedures for the Licensing Hearing in line with the Licensing Act 2003 and the Council’s protocol.

The applicant and objector were both present.

The Head of Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Licensing explained the facility to apply for one off, or occasional events providing licensable activities, via the submission of a Temporary Event Notice (TEN). Following the Council’s receipt of a TEN, the Police or the Council’s Environmental Health team was engaged and if either party believed the notice would undermine any of the four licensing objectives they were able to submit objections.

The Sub-Committee was to consider the police objection notice raised against the TEN in respect of a proposed event at 112 Whitehorse Road, Croydon on 30  September 2023 and 1 October 2023. The TEN was detailed in Appendix A1 of the agenda and included sale by retail of alcohol, provision of regulated entertainment and provision of late-night refreshment between the hours of 7:00pm on 30 September 2023 and 3:00am on 1 October 2023. The Police objection notice was included at Appendix A2 of the agenda. An ordinance survey extract of the proposed location of the TEN was included at Appendix A3 of the agenda.

The Police objector PC Sear was given the opportunity to speak. PC Sear advised the Sub-Committee:

-        The TEN stated the event was to raise funds for a wedding. This had been advertised as an Old Skool vs. Afro Beats event at Whitehorse Road.

-        The police had discussed the intended operation of the event with Mr Sempa and noted the venue was at a busy junction on Whitehorse Road and would be the first event held at this premises.

-        The owner of the venue had stated that he did not want the event to take place. PC Sear believed that, should the Sub-Committee be minded to grant the authority for a TEN, the event would not go ahead.

-        Police concerns included the terminal hour of the event, the social media marketing of the event and the impact this could have on attendance. The event was not ticketed and therefore attendance levels could not be foreseen. The premises could hold approximately 50-100; however the attendance could be higher.

-        The premises was not licensed, and the staff had no experience of selling alcohol. There were concerns that due to the event’s fundraising nature, the focus would be to sell as much alcohol as possible without regard to managing attendees’ intoxication. 

-        Running an event until 3:00am, especially when widely advertised, required experience of managing the risks, particularly in the context of Croydon’s crime levels.

-        There was no last entry time of the event and attendees would be charged £20 on the door.

-        The venue only had 2 CCTV cameras inside.

-        The Police had suggested hiring a more appropriate venue such as a pub or social club which would be able to support with the event’s operations and uphold the licensing objectives. The venue had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58/22