Agenda and minutes

Councillor Benstead was appointed as Chair for the meeting. 

No declarations of interest were made.

All parties noted the procedure.

The Senior Technical Officer presented the report and outlined the application.

Member Questions

In response to Members’ questions the Senior Technical Officer confirmed that responsible authorities had not responded to the consultation. Conditions on P32 of the Officer’s report were agreed with the Police prior to Tesco’s submission.

Mr Bark said there were additional details on P37-38 of the Officer’s report.

Applicant’s Representative

Mr Bark made the following points on behalf of the Applicant:

       i.          Plans in the committee papers had not copied well so tabled clearer A3 copies for reference by Officers, Committee Members and (Ward) Councillor Bick.

     ii.          He referred to the Cumulative Impact Policy and the test which was contained within paragraph 5.10. He explained that this was in fact a two stage test.

   iii.          In any event this application would not add to the cumulative impact.

   iv.          There had been no representations from the Police on this application and no Responsible Authorities had objected.

    v.          The premises had not been fitted out by Tesco yet. If a licence was granted it was hoped the store would open during August 2019.

   vi.          The store had not opened yet, or sold alcohol yet, so there was no history of problems.

 vii.          Tesco had undertaken extensive consultation with the Police to agree conditions before the application was submitted. Further discussions were held with the Police after submissions which led to further CCTV conditions. There were no objections from residents, the Police or other responsible authorities as a result.

viii.          Noted that two Ward Councillors had objected to the application as it was located in a cumulative impact zone.

   ix.          It was still appropriate for Tesco to apply for an alcohol licence.

    x.          Tesco understood the city well. There had been no cumulative impact issues from other Tesco stores.

   xi.          The 06:00-23:00 store operating hours had been discussed with the Police.

a.    The Committee could amend these if they had concerns (as raised in Councillor Bick’s representation).

b.    Other off licences in the area had longer operating hours already.

c.    Tesco did not anticipate any negative impact on the cumulative impact area due to their operating policies and procedures.

 xii.          Tesco were seeking to put in a convenience store where alcohol would be a small but important part of the product range. It was expected alcohol would be bought with other goods.

xiii.          Tesco had detailed policies and training programs covering the sale of alcohol.

xiv.          Tesco was the first operator to have a ‘think 21 policy’ and then changed this to a ‘think 25 policy’.

xv.          If an age restricted product was scanned at the till, it required a member of staff to override this either by confirming that ID was shown or that the person was clearly over 25. The till would also display the date of birth for a person who would be 18 on that date, so that it was easy for staff to carry out an ID check.

xvi.          Tesco undertook their own mystery  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19/4/Lic