Agenda and minutes

Councillor Rosenstiel was appointed as Chair for the meeting.

Name	Item	Interest
Councillor Rosenstiel	12/4/licsub	Personal: Member of Campaign for Real Ale

All parties noted the procedure.

The Assistant Licensing Officer presented the report and outlined the application.

 

Applicant’s Agent

Mr Aylot made the following points on behalf of the applicant:

(i)                The toilets referred to in condition 1 were for staff, not members of the public. Details were not clear on the plan, but a door prevented public access.

(ii)              The Applicants were new to the trade; the shop had been running for seven months without encountering problems. Issues raised in the representations referred to anti-social behaviour (ASB) and street drinking. Conditions proposed in the application to mitigate any concerns would be more strenuous than for neighbouring premises.

(iii)            A condition for the application would prohibit high strength alcohol. The Applicant would be happy to accept 5.7% for beer, lager and cider.

(iv)            Reference was made to licence conditions for 96 Mill Road. The Applicant would accept a similar condition not to sell high strength alcohol of over 5.7% to discourage street drinkers (who prefer cheap high strength alcohol). It was suggested that street drinkers might leave the area if they could not access cheap high strength alcohol.

(v)              The application set a benchmark for licensing conditions to hold other Mill Road premises against. This was done as a response to the ‘Grandfather Rights’ to address ASB concerns.

(vi)            The proposed conditions may encourage other premises to adopt good practices through a voluntary code/variance of conditions to address any perceived issues in Mill Road.

(vii)          Licensing guidance policies 239 and 240 state that individuals are responsible for their own actions when they leave a licensed premises.

(viii)        The Applicant has a Turkish language training manual to ensure that staff whose first language is not English would understand their responsibilities.

(ix)            There are thirteen outlets selling alcohol in Mill Road, so this application should not impact on the cumulative impact zone by attracting additional street drinkers. It was anticipated that licensing conditions would assist the Applicant to deter street drinking.

(x)              The Applicant operated a convenience store, and wished to add alcohol to the services offered.

(xi)            Referred to residents’ representations, which all had the same text. It was suggested these were a petition in effect and raised the question who had started the ‘petition’. It was suggested an existing trader had done so to prevent competition.

(xii)          Responded to Police Constables Sinclair and Thomas’ statements setting out police objections:

·       The sale of cheap strong alcohol drew street drinkers to the area, as referred to in Sergeant Norden’s witness statement. The Applicant would discourage street drinkers through disinterest, as the premises would not sell high strength alcohol.

·       The application would not add to crime levels as these were dropping in the area.

·       Conditions should address Police concerns.

(xiii)        Conditions that could be added to the application to assist the Police:

·       Marking alcohol bottles with an ultra violet pen to show where it was sold.

·       Selling beer, lager and cider in packs of two or more (street drinkers prefer to purchase single cans to minimise the amount of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.