Agenda and minutes

Due to technical difficulties, the meeting start was delayed to 10.15am.

The Chair welcomed all those in attendance and introductions were made.  The Chair reminded those present that the meeting was being recorded and would be made available following the meeting via the Council’s website – Click Here to View

There were no apologies for absence received.

The Legal Advisor to the Sub Committee referred to a late representation from the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Caerphilly, that had been directly emailed to the Sub Committee the night before the meeting.  All parties present were advised that the representation was not admissible as the consultation deadline for representations had long since passed.

            Councillor W. David sought advice on whether he needed to declare an interest and leave the meeting as the MS is his son.  The Legal Advisor explained that as the representation would be treated as disregarded, in his view there was no need to declare an interest.  Councillor David confirmed that he had not discussed the application with the MS beforehand and felt there was no need to declare an interest on this occasion.

            Councillor P. Bevan added that he had not read the representation from the MS as it had been sent over the weekend.

            Following discussion on the matter, the applicant’s barrister stated that he had every confidence that the Sub Committee would disregard the late representation and deal with the application in an impartial manner and he was happy for the meeting to proceed.

There were no declarations of interest made at the beginning or during the course of the meeting.

The Legal Advisor to the Sub Committee outlined the procedure for the meeting, including the order of representations and the opportunities for all parties to ask questions. 

Mr Lee Morgan (Licensing Manager) presented the report and outlined the application submitted for the variation of a premises licence located at Bargoed Service Station Limited, Gwerthonor Place, Gilfach, Bargoed.  It was noted that supplementary information has been circulated to all parties before the meeting, namely site plans from Licensing and additional supporting information from the applicant.

Members were advised that the applicant currently holds a Premises Licence which permits the sale of alcohol between the hours of 07.00hrs until Midnight.  The opening hours as specified on the licence currently reflect 05.00hrs until 01.00am.  The application sought to permit off-sale of alcohol 24 hours a day from Monday-Sunday inclusive, and Late Night Refreshment (Sale of hot food/drink) from Monday – Sunday inclusive, 2300 hrs to 0500 hrs.  Furthermore, the application sought the removal of all embedded conditions, the removal of Annex 2 & 3 Conditions, and to replace those conditions with new updated conditions, and for approval of a change of layout to the premises.

A number of steps had also been volunteered by the applicant as part of the Operating Schedule, to promote the Licensing Objectives, and were set out in the report. 

During the consultation process, a representation was received from Gwent Police who advocated conditions which were accepted by the applicant, and ultimately the Police were content with the imposition of conditions.  A representation was also received from one local resident and full details were appended to the Officer’s report.

Attention was drawn to the local policy considerations as set out in the report and to the way in which the Sub-Committee would deal with the application.  Members were referred to the recommendation set out in the Licensing Manager’s report, which recommended that the application for the variation of the premises licence be granted, subject to the conditions set out in Appendix 9 in the report.  It was also recommended that the embedded conditions set out in Appendix 2 and conditions set out in Appendix 3 be removed and that Members approve the revised plan demonstrating the change of layout to the premises.

All parties present were afforded the opportunity to ask questions of the Licensing Manager and none were received.

Representations were then invited from the applicant, Bargoed Service Station Ltd.

Professor R. Light (Barrister) spoke on behalf of his client and referenced the applicant’s extensive experience in running forecourt sites across the UK.  The applicant has 10 sites in total, 3 of these being 24-hour premises and have experienced no recorded problems or issues.  He stated that the Bargoed site previously operated for many years on a 24-hour basis and that the manager (Mr I. Thavarajah) had 15 years DPS experience, 5 of these being at the Bargoed site, and lived 5 minutes away from the premises.  To his knowledge, there had ben no instances  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.