Agenda and minutes

The Chair on behalf of the Committee expressed sympathy with/for (?) the families of those affected by the recent tragic events. He commented that there were two other Councillors present in the room, but they would not be part of the decision making process, it would be for the determination of the Sub-Committee.

The Licensing Officer outlined the purpose of the hearing and explained that on the 19^th October 2011, a Certificate under Section 53a(1)(b) had been received from Northampton Police in respect of the premises Lava and Ignite, St Peter’s Square, Northampton. The Certificate was served as Northamptonshire Police considered other procedures under the Licensing Act 2003 inappropriate due to the circumstances described in the application for review (Sec53A Licensing act 2003), in particular that serious disorder had broken out at the premises. It was also noted that it would not be appropriate to utilise Police Closure powers, as this would only give them powers to close the premises for up to 48 hours.

Application for the Review

Pc Bryan from Northamptonshire Police confirmed that they had applied for the review of the premises under Section 53A of the Licensing Act 2003 – Premises associated with serious Crime or serious disorder. In reference to the Application, he informed the Committee that where it stated 2 people had been arrested for public order offences, he could confirm that only 1 person had been arrested following an incident that had resulted in one fatality and two people being admitted to hospital, with critical injuries. This was following an event that was suspected of being overcrowded. He stated that it is the view of the Police that with it being an ongoing investigation should the License be suspended, they would not deem it necessary for the Designated Premises Supervisor to be removed.

Questions to the Applicants

In response to a question asked by the Committee, Ps Worthington informed Members that whilst preparing a file for the coroner and due to pending investigations, there were limitations on the information that could be given in public and therefore was unable to comment on the capacity inside the club on the day of the incident. He did confirm that the maximum capacity that was stipulated risk assessment was 1600 people although he was unable to comment on whether that had been exceeded on the night. He was also unable to comment on the number of door staff that had been present at the event.

Representation by the Respondent

Mr J Smith of Poppleston Allen solicitors, who represented Lava & Ignite explained that his client had not had access to the Club since the event and therefore had limited information available to them with regards to the CCTV, door staff records and capacity figures from that evening. He commented that this was an event that had been held for the past three years. He confirmed that there were 15 door staff present on the evening, 5 more than was stipulated on the License, although they were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.