The Legal Advisor will ask the Members present to elect a Chair for the Sub-Committee.

Councillor E Kettle was elected as Chair of the Sub-Committee.

Councillor D Clarke (in reserve), replaced Councillor M Singh on the Sub-Committee.

There were no apologies for absence.

Members are invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests or other registrable and non-registrable interests in items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair confirmed with all parties present that the procedure for the meeting was received and understood and there were no questions arising therefrom.

The Sub-Committee noted the Officer’s report, which detailed the application for a new premises licence for a ground floor convenience store with ancillary off-sales of alcohol.  This included a location plan, photographs, including the location of CCTV in the vicinity and an aerial photograph.  In addition, Members noted a list of other licensed premises in the area.

Officers advised that the proposed opening hours of the premises mirrored the licensable activity of off-sales of alcohol.  These being 07:00 hrs – 23:00 hrs Monday to Saturday, and 08:00 hrs to 22:00 hrs on Sundays.  There were no non-standard timings or seasonal variations proposed.

Officers outlined the relevant representations received in respect of the application, one of which was deemed partially valid but was presented in full for completeness and transparency.  Officers confirmed that the responsible authorities had made no representations.  It was noted that 3 representations had been rejected as invalid.

The Sub-Committee’s attention was drawn to the relevant guidance and the Council’s own Statement of Licensing Policy.

There being no questions on the Officer’s report, the applicant was then invited to state their case.

The applicant’s representative clarified that the opening and operational hours were as originally presented.  The applicants who were both present at the meeting were experienced licence holders who had run a successful business for 3 years in Birmingham.  They had sold the business and decided to open a convenience store in Chertsey.  It was stressed that only 20% of their business was anticipated to involve off-sales of alcohol, the emphasis being primarily that of a local grocery serving local residents.  The applicants would employ two members of staff and it was their intention that either one of them would usually be present to oversee the business. 

The applicant’s representative drew the Sub-Committee’s attention to the proposed steps to promote the licensing objectives, including strict adherence to ‘challenge 25’ reinforced by robust training, and conditions to mitigate against the risk of anti-social behaviour and potential noise nuisance which had been the main focus of the representations received.

In respect of the representations, it was advised that concerns regarding parking were not relevant licensing considerations, and that despite there being other similar outlets in Chertsey, each application should be treated on its merits.  It was felt that concerns about anti-social behaviour were unsubstantiated.  However, the applicants would, if granted a licence, monitor the situation and whether it could be attributed to their premises, or was attributable to other licensed premises in the area.

The Applicant’s representative suggested that one of the representations received was potentially vexatious and possibly emanated from another business in the area concerned about competition.

The Sub-Committee was asked to note the steps of due diligence taken by the applicants including availing themselves of the Council’s pre-application service and taking independent advice.

The local resident who was also representing the other resident’s submission was invited to state their case.

The residents’ main concern was the presence of another retail unit selling alcohol would be likely  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

OFFICERS' RECOMMENDATION that –

the press and public be excluded from the meeting during discussion of the following report under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that the report in question would be likely to involve disclosure of exempt information of the description specified in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

(To Resolve)

Resolved that –

the press and public be excluded from the meeting during deliberation of the aforementioned application report, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that the report in question would be likely to involve disclosure of exempt information of the description specified in paragraph 3 of part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.