Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda.

If you have a pecuniary interest you must withdraw from the meeting. Normally you should leave the room before the business starts to be discussed. You do, however, have the same right to speak as a member of the public and may remain in the room to enable you to exercise that right and then leave immediately. In either case you must not seek to improperly influence a decision on the matter.

No declarations of any interests were received.

General procedure points and hearing procedure for the meeting.

The Chair outlined the procedure to be used to conduct the meeting.

Report of the Director of Customer and Digital.

The Licensing Sub-Committee considered the application to vary a premises licence under Section 34 of the Licensing Act 2003, to which relevant representations had been received.

The Applicant was in attendance along with her representative, and Other Persons: two local residents were in attendance to make representations to the Sub-Committee.

The Council’s Enforcement Team Leader for Licensing informed the Sub-Committee that the most recent premises licence was granted on 1 May 2019.  The licence was transferred into the name of the current premises licence holder on 17 December 2019.

On 18 August 2020, an application to vary the premises licence was received, seeking to extend the permitted hours for the sale of alcohol from Monday to Sunday 08:00-22:00 with hours the premises are open to the public from 07:00hrs each day. 

The applicant is not seeking to remove any conditions currently imposed on the licence and offers a number of steps intended to promote the objectives within Section 16 of the application.

Ten representations from Other Persons were received and relate to the Prevention of Crime and Disorder and the Prevention of Public Nuisance objectives.  A number of complaints have been made regarding the alleged sale of alcohol at the premises outside of permitted hours.  On every occasion these complaints have been made, an investigation has been conducted, to include review of the premises’ CCTV systems, and has been unable to gather any evidence which corroborates the complaints made.

Members noted that no other relevant representations were received.

In response to Members’ questions, it was noted that the applicant had some CCTV they may wish the Sub-Committee to view regarding the complaints made regarding the use of the premises outside of permitted hours.

The Applicant’s representative explained that no complaints had been upheld since the Applicant took over the licence.  A complaint had been made regarding the sale of alcohol at 21:05, but CCTV evidence shows that the Applicant’s husband was closing down the shop at the time of the sale.  Members were assured that this was an isolated incident.  Members viewed the CCTV footage.

With regards to complaints from Other Persons the Applicant advised that new shutters have been ordered to address issues of noise raised.  The Applicant commented that the existing shutters were very old.  Deliveries are made to the front of the shop as there are no lights to the rear of the shop. 

In response to questions from Members, the Applicant advised that there are three shutters in total.  The window shutters are closed by 21:00.  Members noted an issue in relation to the time stamp on the contactless card machines. 

Members heard representations from the first local resident who advised that she represented a number of residents on Weldbank Lane.  She related issues including noise from the shutters, parking issues, noise from car doors and anti-social behaviour outside the shop, including drug dealing.   Members heard that customers sat on residents’ walls drinking.

A second local resident reported that there are no serious issues currently  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.106