Agenda and draft minutes

Consideration was given to an application (made in accordance with Section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003) for the grant of a Premises Licence in respect of premises situated at 21 Monkwood Road, Rotherham S62  7JN.

The applicant, Mr. Heward Shinwari, was seeking authorisation to allow the sale of alcohol for consumption off the premises on the days of Monday to Saturday between 0700 and 2300 hours and Sunday between 0800 and 2200 hours.

Mr. Shinwari was present together with Mr. Taimor Hairat acting as interpreter.

Consultation on the application had been carried out in accordance with all statutory requirements and the Council procedure.  During the consultation period 15 “Other Persons” had made representations to the application  opposing the granting of the application as well as the Licensing Authority.  The representations had been reviewed and found that 5 of the representations received from “Other Persons” had not been accepted due to the senders having failed to provide the Licensing Office with their name and address.

The Licensing Authority had made representations requesting that, if the Sub-Committee was minded to grant the application, that the management controls offered by the applicant be disregarded and the conditions set out in their representations imposed.

Mrs. Kraus informed the Sub-Committee that subsequently the applicant had amended his application so as to offer the 14 conditions requested by the Licensing Authority and, accordingly, these would automatically be applied to Annex 2 of any licence granted.  Therefore, the Licensing Authority had withdrawn its representations.

Mr. Shinwari had been provided with the detail of the representations from “Other Persons” but had not attempted conciliation.

All the “Other Persons” had been invited to the meeting.  Only one was in attendance, Other Person No. 10 as listed in the report.

General questioning of Mr. Shinwari commenced including who would be working in the shop, who was the Designated Premises Supervisor etc.  However, once detailed questioning by the Sub-Committee, Licensing Service and the objector started, Members became concerned that there were issues of understanding through language barriers.

In the interest of fairness to all parties concerned, the Sub-Committee felt that the hearing should be adjourned and reconvened with an independent Pashto interpreter, sourced by the Council, in attendance to assist Mr. Shinwari.

Resolved:-  That the hearing be adjourned in order for an independent Pashto interpreter to be in attendance at a reconvened hearing to assist the applicant.