Licensing fiasco leaves Domino’s Chiswick licensing hours still undecided

Domino’s Pizza at 95 Chiswick High Road, on the corner of Cranbrook Road; image Goiogle Streetview

Licensing panel decision quashed because councillor not officially a committee member

Residents of Cranbrook Road in Chiswick have been concerned that Domino’s, the takeaway pizza chain which has an outlet at the end of their road, on the corner with Chiswick High Road, want to increase their hours of operation until 1.00 am every night of the week.

The application is to ‘provide late night refreshment both outdoors and indoors’ and would mean the premises would be open from 11.00 am until 1.00 am the following morning every day.

Although there are no houses immediately adjacent to the premises, residents say the delivery drivers zoom up their road on their scooters and urinate in it, and that the current closing time of 11pm is late enough.

Domino’s argued:

‘We will respect our neighbours, keep noise to a minimum, and ensure the team are fully trained to deal with any incidents that may arise’.

Cllr Jack Emsley, in whose Chiswick Homefields ward Cranbrook Road is, told The Chiswick Calendar he had received more messages objecting to this licence extension than any other – 12 households representing 20 or so people.

Conservatives objected to Cllr Ranjit Gill, who recently swapped parties and joined Labour

Cllr Ranjit Gill, formerly Conservative, now Labour

Domino’s application came before Hounslow’s Licensing Panel on Tuesday 15 July and it was turned down, but the Conservative opposition group on the Council challenged the validity of the panel because one of the members was not a member of the Licensing Committee.

There are always three panel members, who are Hounslow councillors, and should be members of the Licensing Committee.

The panel on 15 July consisted of Chiswick Riverside councillor Gabriella Giles (Conservative), Syon & Brentford Lock councillor Dan Bowering (Labour), and Cllr Ranjit Gill, who represents Chiswick Gunnersbury and recently embarrassed his Conservative colleagues by unexpectedly changing party and joining the Labour group on the Council.

READ ALSO: Chiswick Conservative councillor Ranjit Gill crosses to Labour

The Conservative Opposition Group wrote to the Council officer responsible for the panel to say Councillor Ranjit Gill was not a member of the Licensing Committee and should not have been taking part in the process and voting on the application. He was not confirmed as a member of the committee until the Borough Council meeting the following week.

‘Section 1.1 of the Licensing Panel Procedure clearly states that: “Each Licensing Panel consists of three members drawn from the membership of the Licensing Committee”.’

The officer wrote back to admit the error and apologise. Her concern was that the omission made the decision unlawful and laid the Council open to a legal challenge from Domino’s, so the agenda for the meeting has been unpublished, and it has  marked on the Council’s website as ‘postponed’.

Where does this leave the residents of Cranbrook Road? We have asked Domino’s whether they intend to pursue their application.

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