Agenda and minutes

Councillor Mrs Diane Chambers was elected as Chairman for this meeting.

There were none. 

It was agreed that the Chairman, after consultation with the other members of the Panel, would sign the record of this meeting outside the meeting. 

There were none. 

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct.  Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 5.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests

There were none

Other interests

There were none.

The panel is asked to consider and determine an application for a premises licence is respect of the above premises.

Discussion:

The Chairman asked those present to introduce themselves and explained the process that the hearing would follow as outlined in the agenda.

The Principal Licensing and Enforcement Officer stated that the application was to request a new premises licence for the supply of alcohol off the premises between 07:00 hours and 23:00 hours, Monday to Sunday, in respect of 288 Lonsdale Drive, Rainham, Kent ME8 9JU. The application had been correctly advertised in the local press and notices had been displayed at the premises for the required timescale.

The following documents were included in the agenda for the Panel’s consideration:

•          Appendix A - pages 11 to 32 - a copy of the application submitted.

•           Appendix B - page 33 – a location plan showing the approximate location of the application.

•          Appendix C – pages 35 to 81- copies of representations received from members of the public.

In accordance with section 9.14 of the Amended Guidance to the Licensing Act 2003 Licensing Officers had been in discussions with colleagues in the Planning Service and confirmed that the premises had no planning history.

The application had been referred to the Licensing Hearing Panel for consideration due to relevant representations that had been received.

The Principal Licensing and Enforcement Officer advised the Panel that some supporting documentation on staff training had been submitted by the applicant’s agent via email on 28 January 2018 for circulation to all parties.  As this had not been possible in advance of the hearing, Members agreed that it be distributed at the hearing.

The Chairman invited the applicant and her agent to speak in support of the application for a premises licence.  The applicant’s agent highlighted the applicant’s experience in operating stores, having operated similar premises in a residential area of Sittingbourne. Those premises had never been the subject of any complaints and the applicant had a good relationship with the local community. Also, the applicant had invested £35k in fully refurbishing the premises at 288 Lonsdale Drive, which were joining the Premier franchise, including new CCTV and alarm systems and an electronic till point. As a newsagents and convenience store, the addition of alcohol sales to the store’s offer, not restricted to 20:00 hours, was considered to be crucial to the viability of the premises.     

The applicant’s agent also highlighted the significance of the Responsible Authorities, in particular the Police, not submitting representations against the application.  She said that the representations received from local residents, based on a fear of what might happen, were understandable but were, in her opinion, without foundation; many small shops operated in residential areas without any problems. Case law, the Thwaites case, demonstrated that decisions must be evidence based. If any issues arose after a premises licence was granted, there was the ability to apply for a review of the licence.

In response to questions for the applicant and her agent from objectors to the application, the following points were made:

• Although the Thwaites case related to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 713.

Decision:

The press and public were excluded from the meeting during the Panel’s deliberations and decision making in respect of agenda item 6, because consideration of this matter in public would disclosure information falling within paragraph 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, as specified in agenda item 7 (Exclusion of the Press and Public) and, in all the circumstances of the case, the Panel considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.