Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Poppy Collier  01622 6022242

Items
No. Item

17.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

It was noted that apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Hinder.

 

18.

Notification of Substitute Members

Minutes:

It was noted that Councillor Blackmore was substituting for Councillor Hinder.

 

19.

Notification of Visiting Members

Minutes:

There were no Visiting Members.

 

20.

Disclosures by Members and Officers

Minutes:

There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.

 

21.

Disclosures of Lobbying

Minutes:

There were no disclosures of lobbying.

 

22.

Exempt Items

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That the items on Part II of the agenda be taken in private as proposed.

 

 

23.

Minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2016 pdf icon PDF 53 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed.

 

24.

Report of the Head of Housing and Community Services - Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, Schedule 3 – Application for the Renewal of a Sex Establishment Licence – for Players, Gentlemens’ Club, 57 High Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1SY pdf icon PDF 144 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman requested those participating in the hearing to identify themselves as follows:

 

Members of the committee;

John Littlemore   – Head of Housing and Community Services

Jayne Bolas   - Legal Advisor;

Poppy Collier   - Clerk to the committee;

Emma Sexton   – Applicant and Manager of Players Gentleman’s Club;

Stephen Thomas   - representing the Applicant;

Jemma Anscombe - Assistant Manager of Players Gentleman’s Club, witness for the applicant.

 

None of those who made representations attended or gave any indication relating to attendance.

 

The Chairman confirmed that all parties had a copy of the hearing procedure. A Member requested that the procedure notes be circulated separately to the agenda going forward for ease of reference and Mr Littlemore agreed that this could be arranged in future

 

It was confirmed by the Chairman that the committee Members had read the report and other attached documents, and that no amendments or conditions had been put forward.

 

The Head of Housing and Community Services outlined the application for renewal of the licence for Players Gentleman’s Club, and advised that the additional conditions added at the transfer of the application to Ms Sexton had all been actioned. The Police had commented on the application to state they had no objections. It was the officer’s recommendation that the application be approved with current conditions.

 

Three objections had been received with regards to the application. Officers had attempted to contact the objectors on several occasions but had received no response, and statutory notice of the hearing had been given.

 

Mr Thomas, representing the applicant, provided opening remarks and explained that:

 

·  Players Gentleman’s Club had been involved in the striptease business for ten years. Kent Police had confirmed in a letter at appendix C of the report that no crime reports had been received during the previous year. The statement by the Police also confirmed that the reported burglary in July and arson in October 2015 were not connected to the operation of the daily business.

 

·  Visits by council licensing officers and the Police had confirmed that the venue had been compliant with the conditions of the licence. No issues had been reported to the licensing team.

 

·  The number of objections received was small. Two objections had been received from alleged former members of staff, but their identities could not be confirmed. Staff members were obligated to report any incidents involving drugs, but no reports had been made.

 

·  The Police had confirmed that there were no reports of crime that would correlate with the use of drugs at the premises. Full CCTV coverage of the venue, trained door staff and floor walking staff acted to deter and detect drug use. The venue’s customer house rules at appendix A to the report were prominently displayed and gave notice that management reserved the right to search persons on the premises. Dancers were also subject to bag checks. The cleaners had identified no signs of drug use during the course of their work.

 

Ms Sexton and Ms Anscombe adopted Mr Thomas’ evidence  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

25.

Exclusion of the public from the meeting

To move that the public be excluded for the items set out in Part II of the Agenda because of the likely disclosure of exempt information for the reasons specified having applied the Public Interest Test.

 

Head of Schedule 12 A and Brief Description

 

 

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED: That the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business because of the likely disclosure of exempt information for the reason specified, having applied the public interest test:-

 

 

Head of Schedule 12A and Brief Description

 

Item 10. Exempt Information in respect of the report of the Head of Housing and Community Services – Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, schedule 3 – Application for the renewal of a sex establishment licence for Players Gentlemen’s Club, 57 High Street, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1SY

Para 3 – financial or business affairs

 

26.

Exempt Information in respect of the report of the Head of Housing and Community Services - Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, Schedule 3 – Application for the renewal of a sex establishment licence – for Players, Gentlemens’ Club, 57 High Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1SY

Minutes:

The Head of Housing and Community Services presented the exempt information which included a letter of objection and a response from the applicant to the objections.

 

Mr Thomas, representing the applicant, provided remarks on the exempt information.

 

The Chairman invited the committee to ask questions of the applicant.

 

When there were no further questions, Mr Thomas provided closing remarks.

 

The hearing was adjourned at 11.15 a.m. to allow the committee to deliberate in private, and reconvened in public at 11.57 a.m.

 

RESOLVED:

 

Decision on Application for Renewal of a Sexual Entertainment Venue Licence – Players, 57, High Street, Maidstone. (Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, Schedule 3.

 

The Committee decided that the application made by Ms. Emma Louise Sexton, on 06, April 2016, for renewal of a sexual entertainment venue licence for premises at 57, High Street, Maidstone, under Schedule 3 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, would be granted on the existing terms and conditions.

 

The Committee considered; the report and oral presentation of the Head of Housing and Community Services, the application and all accompanying documents provided by the applicant, the submissions by Mr. Thomas solicitor for the applicant and the evidence of his witnesses; (Ms. Sexton and  Ms. Anscomb and  by letter from Mr. Stevenson), the  objections of unnamed parties at pages 50 and 51, Appendix D of the public agenda and the letter of objection and supporting documents dated 15, April 2016 at appendix i to the Part II report together with the response from the applicant and submissions from her solicitor at the hearing.

Members found that the nature and content of the relevant entertainment proposed was, lap dancing, performances of dance in a dance area and striptease. The hours applied for were Monday to Sunday 20:30 to 02:00 the following day and New Years Eve 20:30– 03:00.

 

In considering their decision Members considered the statutory grounds for refusal of such applications and all other relevant considerations:-

 

MANDATORY GROUNDS

There was found to be no evidence that any of the mandatory grounds under Schedule 3, paragraph (1) were engaged and none were raised by the Police or objectors.

DISCRETIONARY GROUNDS

 

No evidence was found to be relevant to engagement of discretionary grounds for refusal in Schedule 3, paragraph 12(3) (b), (c), (d) (i) and (ii) and they were not raised by the objectors.

 

SUITABILITY OF APPLICANT ETC. AND LAYOUT ETC. OF PREMISES.

 

In relation to 12 (3)(a) the objections engaged consideration of suitability of the applicant for any other reason but not on the basis of conviction for any offence. In relation to ground (d) (iii) the objections engaged character of the premises but not layout or condition.

 

Members considered all the objections made but gave very little weight to them for the following reasons: all objections were made by persons who were not identified, despite two attempts to contact email addresses for verifying information no response was received in relation to the objection emails dated 18 and 25, April 2016, none  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

27.

Duration of meeting

Minutes:

10.00 a.m. to 11.58 a.m.