Agenda and draft minutes

To appoint a Chair for the Licensing (Hearing) Sub-Committee meeting.

The Sub-Committee unanimously elected to appoint Councillor Kieran Persand as Chair of the meeting.

Members are asked to disclose the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.

No Disclosable Pecuniary Interests were declared by Members with respect to any item of business to be considered at the meeting.

The Licensing (Hearing) Sub-Committee (“the Sub-Committee”) is being asked to determine an application for a premises licence made under the Licensing Act 2003.

The Licensing (Hearing) Sub-Committee (“the Sub-Committee”) was asked to determine an application for a premises licence made under the Licensing Act 2003.

The Licensing Officer introduced the report.

The Applicant had no questions to ask of the Licensing Officer.

The Sub-Committee had no questions to ask of the Licensing Officer.

The received an opening submission from the Applicant’s representative (Solicitor, Keystone Law):

a)            He stated that the vast majority of B & M stores have a premises licence for the sale of alcohol. He stated that B & M considers the sale of alcohol at its stores an important part of its business philosophy of providing a ‘one-stop-shop’ for its customers that enables people to buy all their shopping needs at one store rather than having to shop across multiple shops.

b)            He addressed the objector’s concern, found at page 29 of the agenda. He stated that that the greatest consideration in relation to crime for B & M was shop lifting – an issue he explained is prevalent throughout the retail sector. With respect to the sale of alcohol, He stated that B & M had addressed the issue of shoplifting by positioning the alcohol aisle far within the store, as seen on the plan found at page 27 of the agenda. He went on to explain that the store would operate a one-way system for aisle navigation, which would facilitate easier supervision by staff. He explained that, as and when deemed necessary, B & M would also employ undercover security staff.

c)            He addressed the objector’s concern, found at page 30 of the agenda. He stated that, in terms of the number of deliveries made to the site, estimating it to be 4-5 per week for the B & M store, residents would likely see little change from when the site was previously occupied by Wilko. With respect to the hours applied for, he explained that B & M did not intend to operate the full hours for the vast majority of the year and intended only to operate until 23:00 at certain times of the year, such as at Christmas time.

d)            He confirmed that B & M recognised and had read the Council’s licensing act 2003 policy, which stated that “Off licences and stores with off sales up to 11pm will generally be granted, unless it can be shown that the application would undermine the licensing objectives”.

e)            The highlighted to the Sub-Committee the conditions written as part of the application, found at pages 24-25 of the report.

The Applicant’s representatives responded to questions from the Sub-Committee:

a)            A Member of the Sub-Committee voiced a concern with the applied-for starting time for the sale of alcohol at 07:00, suggesting that the sale of alcohol at that time could increase the risk of children becoming exposed to alcohol as and when they enter the store on their way to school. The Member enquired as to whether the Applicant would be happy to accept a condition requiring a starting time of 09:30 for the sale of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.