Agenda item

Report CSL015 by the Community Safety and Licensing Service Manager.

(Enclosure)

Decision;

That the premises licence for the Convenience Store, 1 Marville Court, Crowson Way, Deeping St James be granted as applied for.

The Solicitor to the Committee introduced those present and confirmed who was to speak.  Mr John Birch, Licensing Consultant would be speaking on behalf of Jegatheeswaran Rajaratnam the applicant.

The Licensing Officer read out an e-mail that he had received from Mr Staunton who had made representations about the application but was unable to attend the meeting.  Mr Staunton said that he welcomed the new shop but there seemed to be some confusion with the residents who may have forwarded representations to the Parish Council rather than the District Council.  He wished to make it clear that the residents had a very real concern about evening sales of alcohol after 6pm.  They had experienced problems previously from the assembly of youngsters at the location and also there would be an exacerbation of parking and traffic problems due to the narrowness and curving nature of Crowson Way.  Although the Parish Council had indicated a suggested time of 8pm for the sale of alcohol this was not the wish of the residents.

The Licensing Officer then presented report CSL015 which was for a premises licence for the Convenience Store, 1 Marville Court, Crowson Way, Deeping St James.  The hours for the sale of alcohol were 7am – 10pm to Monday to Sunday.  The agent acting on behalf of the applicant had submitted a covering letter detailing how the applicant had carried out a pre-application risk assessment which was detailed in the appendix.  Representations had been received from residents and Parish Councillors on the grounds of Crime and Disorder and Public Nuisance.  No representations had been received from responsible bodies.

A question was asked about the Parish Councils objection to which the Licensing Officer referred the Committee to appendix 3 of the report. The email from the Parish Council stated that they and those members of the public attending the meeting did not object to the grant of a licence but they had concerns which included anti social behaviour, noise and that a limit of 8pm was put on the sale of alcohol.

Mr Birch, a Licensing Consultant then presented the applicants case.  The premise was not intend as a specialist off licence, it had been recognised that the premises was in a residential area but there were other businesses, hot food outlets in the area which closed at 10pm.  The common themes of the representations concerned the open space to the rear of the premises and the gathering of young people.  The applicant wished to co-operate with the street wardens.  He referred to the detailed operation schedule which had been included and the draft premises licence register, a refusal register and training notes.  The staff would hold personal licences and depending upon the pattern of trade there would be two staff including a local “mum” on duty at school closing time.  No comments had been received from the responsible bodies.  Mr Birch then detailed the checking of underage sales. He circulated trading cards for members to see and also the systems in place to check the age of the customers using the challenge 25 policy. He did not consider 10pm to be late especially as the hot food outlets in the area closed at 10pm.  He referred to the Licensing policy and indicated that the sale of alcohol would not increase problems already being encountered in the area.

A question was asked about alcohol promotions to which Mr Birch replied. The Licensing Officer informed the Committee that the last shop owner had surrendered his licence in October 2010.

The Licensing Officer then gave his closing statement reminded Members to consider the representations they had received and take the necessary steps which were proportionate to the information they had been given and the steps available to them.

Mr Birch then gave his closing statement referring Members to the operating schedule which was detailed and proportionate to the application before them.

(11.05am the applicant, his representative and the Licensing Officers left the meeting)

Members discussed the application before them having regard to the four licensing objectives and the written representations received and those heard at the meeting.  It was proposed, seconded and unanimously agreed to approve the licence as applied for.

(11.10am the applicant, his representative and the Licensing Officers returned to the meeting)

The Solicitor to the Committee informed those present that having considered the written representations received and the representations heard at the meeting the Committee had unanimously agreed to grant the premises licence as applied for.