Present:
Cllr R Cheadle (Sub Committee Member)
Cllr C Mott (Sub Committee Member)
Cllr T Southcott (Sub-Committee Member)
Alan Parr, Lawyer (via MS Teams)
Naomi Stacey, Senior Licensing Officer
Kathy Hoare, Senior Democratic Services Officer
Karen Proctor, Principle Environmental Health and Licensing
Officer
Harry Lionis, Licensing Officer
Mark Loftus-Calvert, Immigration Enforcement Officer, Home Office
Robert Pannell, Immigration Enforcement Officer, Home Office
Ziaur Rahman, Designated Premises Supervisor, Rajpoot Restaurant
*LSC 11 APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN
It was RESOLVED that Cllr R Cheadle be appointed Chairman for the duration of the Sub-Committee meeting.
*LSC 12 DECLARATION OF INTEREST
There were no declarations of interest declared.
The Senior Licensing Officer introduced the report and set out the reasons for the Sub-Committee being required to determine this application. In February 2024, the Licencing Office received an application to review the premises license at Rajpoot Restaurant from the Home Office Immigration Enforcement Team. The Premises Licence holder had failed to meet the licensing objectives of prevention of crime and disorder due to illegal working being found at the premises when visited by the Immigration Enforcement Officers on four occasions since 2016.
The Immigration Enforcement Officer read out some key points from his report on the investigations that were carried out at the premises. He stated that employing illegal workers undermines the licensing objectives. Immigration enforcement is intelligence led and there would need to be sufficient concerns for them to investigate. They found four people who were working illegally on the visits made. Overall, fourteen people had been found to be working at the premises since 2016 without the required permission. Civil penalties totally £215k had not been paid.
The DPS of the premises made his representation. He stated the
Immigration Enforcement Offices had visited the premises a total of
five times since 2020 and they found no illegal working taking place.
The Immigration Officer stated that whilst the extant order was in place,
they found another illegal worker on the premises in 2023 and they
were arrested. Another civil penalty was evoked as part of that.
The Committee adjourned at 10.20am. On their return they read out
their decision in the following statement:
We are here to consider the prevention of crime and disorder in
association with licensing arrangement at this premises. We are
concerned about the continued employment of illegal workers at the
establishment. We have therefore concluded that we shall remove the
Designated Premises Supervisor and revoke the premises license.
This will be confirmed in writing and there will be 21
days in which to appeal against this decision to a Magistrates Court.
(The meeting closed at 10.40am)
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Chairman