Agenda and minutes

The Panel is requested to elect a Chairperson for the hearing in line with rules agreed by the Licensing and Safety Committee. 

The Panel elected Councillor McDonald as Chairperson for this hearing in line with the rules agreed by the Licensing and Safety Committee.

There were none.

To agree that the Chairperson, after consultation with the other members of the Panel, sign the record of this meeting outside the meeting. 

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

The Chairperson will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. 

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 (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

Councillor Kemp informed the Panel that he knew one of the objectors,

Sarah Tranter, as she was the wife of a previous Councillor, however he had not spoken to her regarding this application. 

To consider a new Premises Licence application for Tesco Express, Unit 1 Pullman House, 90 Corporation Street, Rochester following the submission of representations, received during the consultation period.

Discussion:

The Chairperson explained the process that the hearing would follow as outlined on page 4 of the agenda.

The Licensing Officer informed the Panel that the applicant had applied for a new Premises Licence for Tesco Express, Unit 1 Pullman House,

90 Corporation Street, Rochester, ME1 1NH.  All responsible authorities had been consulted in line with the Licensing Act 2003 and representations had been received from the Public Health team and members of the public.

The application was for:

Sale by Retail of Alcohol, Off Sales - Sunday to Thursday 10:00 to 21:00

Friday and Saturday 10:00 to 20:00

The Licensing Officer confirmed that along with the operating schedule, Tesco Stores Limited proposed conditions and representations that were in the agenda report, supplementary agenda no. 1 provided additional information from the Public Health team and supplementary agenda no. 2 had supporting evidence from the applicant.

The Chairperson invited Tesco Stores Limited to speak in support of their application. 

The Solicitor for Tesco Stores Limited explained to the Panel that this would be a Tesco Express Store, one of the smaller Tesco stores.  It was designed to be convenient for customers, to do their day-to-day shopping.  He explained that under 10% of all purchases in a Tesco store were alcohol related products.   Alcohol was a small but important part of customer’s purchases and Tesco had a carefully selected range of alcohol. 

The Solicitor informed the Panel that Tesco had policies and procedures in place regarding the sale of alcohol, which included a “Think 25” policy, which was linked to a prompt on the till which checked the customer’s date of birth.  They also audited the stores with mystery shoppers who were 17 or 18 years old to check whether they were refused the sale of alcohol.  On-line training was provided to each member of staff and renewed every six months. 

CCTV cameras would be located in the store and would cover the entrance, exit and where the alcohol was stored.

Tesco would not sell beer or cider that was more than 5.5 abv and they did not sell individual cans of larger or cider. 

There would be a management team of 4 with 15-20 staff members.  The Store Manager would adjust the staffing levels during busy periods to ensure the licensing objectives were met.  A risk assessment would be undertaken to determine whether a security officer was required, that was covered under condition 12 on page 33 of the agenda. 

The Solicitor informed the Panel that Kent Police had seen all the conditions proposed by Tesco and had not objected to this application.

Tesco did not tolerate bad behaviour, if there were issues, the customer would be asked to stop, if they continued they would then be asked to leave, if they persisted then the Police would be called, and the customer would be banned from using that store.

The Licensing Consultant for Tesco Stores Limited clarified that during the four dates in February that he observed the local area,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 841.

It is recommended that the Panel exclude the press and public from the meeting during the decision-making process for the reasons set out in the report. 

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 disclosed information falling within paragraph5 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.