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 Member Code of Conduct.

(Director of Governance) As per the attached extract from the Council’s Constitution.

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

(Director of Neighbourhoods) To consider the attached report.

(Director of Neighbourhoods) To consider the attached revised Plan for this application.

The three Councillors that presided over this item were Councillors R Morgan as Chairman, P Keska and M Sartin. The Chairman welcomed the participants and requested that they introduce themselves to the Sub-Committee. In attendance on behalf of the application were: Mr J Alonso, the Operations Manager for Il Bacio restaurants; and Mr L Funedda, the owner of Il Bacio restaurants. There were four Objectors in attendance: Mr D Jolly; Mrs J Hirst; Mr D Hirst; and Mr P Gooch, representing Theydon Bois Parish Council. Also in attendance were: Mr P Jones, Essex Police; Mr R Gardiner and Mr R Thompson, Environment and Neighbourhoods Officers with Epping Forest District Council; and Mr J Godden and Mr J Gordon, Planning Officers with Epping Forest District Council. The Chairman then introduced the Members and Officers present, and outlined the procedure that would be followed for the determination of the application.

(a)        The Application before the Sub-Committee

The Licensing Officer informed the Sub-Committee that an application to vary a Premises Licence had been received in respect of Il Bacio Caves at 19B Forest Drive in Theydon Bois, along with representations from interested parties. The application had requested permission to include the front and side terrace of the restaurant within the area for licensable activity, and to update the existing Licensing Plan to reflect this. The Applicant had also offered six additional conditions to be attached to the Licence in relation to the Prevention of Public Nuisance as a result of the request to extend the licensable area.

The Licensing Officer highlighted that, as the application was for a variation of an existing Licence and not a new Licence, paragraph 11 of the report should read:

“11.      In determining this application the Sub-Committee may take any of the following steps as it considers necessary for the promotion of the licensing objectives, namely:

·                 to modify the conditions of the licence; or

·                 to reject the whole or part of the application.

For the purposes of the Licensing Act 2003 the conditions of the licence are modified if any of them are altered or omitted or a new condition added.”

(b)        Presentation of the Applicant’s Case

Mr Alonso stated that Mr Funedda was very contrite over the previous breaches of the Licence which had occurred at the premises, and positive measures had been taken to ensure that all conditions on the Licence were complied with, particularly in relation to noise issues. A new Designated Premises Supervisor had been appointed and all of the staff had been fully trained. One member of staff would be stationed outside the premises on the front terrace from 9.30pm each evening when it was in use until all customers had left the premises.

In respect of the objection from the Parish Council, Mr Alonso contended that the document appended to the agenda was not an official copy from the Land Register, and therefore could contain errors; the Applicant affirmed their belief that the front terrace formed part of the property  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

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.

Confidential Items Commencement:

Paragraph 9 of the Council Procedure Rules contained in the Constitution require:

(1)        All business of the Council requiring to be transacted in the presence of the press and public to be completed by 10.00 p.m. at the latest.

(2)        At the time appointed under (1) above, the Chairman shall permit the completion of debate on any item still under consideration, and at his or her discretion, any other remaining business whereupon the Council shall proceed to exclude the public and press.

(3)        Any public business remaining to be dealt with shall be deferred until after the completion of the private part of the meeting, including items submitted for report rather than decision.

Background Papers: 

Paragraph 8 of the 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 (as defined in Rule 10) and in respect of executive reports, the advice of any political advisor.

Inspection of background papers may be arranged by contacting the officer responsible for the item.

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