Person's licence to sell alcohol in Telford up for review as press excluded from meeting

Councillors met behind closed doors in Telford to review an unnamed person's licence to sell alcohol.

A meeting of Telford & Wrekin Council's licensing sub committee was convened at Darby House in Lawn Central to review the personal licence of the individual.

The licence holder was present at the meeting on Thursday morning (September 3) as was his representative.

Sub committee chairman Councillor John Thompson (Labour, Wrockwardine Wood and Trench) first asked if members had any interest to declare.

The other two committee members, Steve Bentley (Conservative, Ercall Magna) and Janice Jones (Labour, Madeley & Sutton Hill) also had no interest to declare.

Council committees are legally allowed to exclude the press and public in such circumstances if the they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information relating to any individual, including in relation to their business.

But they have to take into account the public interest in the circumstances before excluding.

Councillor Thompson confirmed that they had correctly considered the public interest in coming to their decision to exclude the press and public.

No other information about the process, the personal licence holder, the type of business they are involved in, or what the circumstances were that lead to the review were revealed before the press were excluded.