Agenda item

In accordance with the Licensing Act 2003, the Council has received an application for a new Premises Licence in respect of B&M Store, 22 Medway Road Chatham ME4 4HA.The matter has been put to the Licensing Hearing Panel because the Council has received representations from the Director of Public Health, a member of the public and a Councillor from the neighbouring ward.  To date no agreements has been reached.

Discussion:

 

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

 

The Licensing and Local Land Charges Manager stated that, in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003, the Council had received an application for a new premises licence for the supply of alcohol off the premises in respect of B&M Store (previously Staples) at 22 Medway Street Chatham.  She confirmed that the application had been correctly advertised in the local press and notices displayed at the premises for the required timescale.

 

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

 

•      Appendix A - pages 9 to 27 - a copy of the application submitted.

•      Appendix B - pages 29 & 30 - a copy of the application submitted.

•      Appendix C - page 31 - location plan showing the approximate location of the application.

•      Appendix D – pages 33 to 57 copies of representation received from the Director of Public Health, a member of the public and a Councillor from a neighbouring ward.

 

The Licensing and Local Land Charges Manager advised the Panel that, in accordance with section 9.14 of the Amended Guidance to the Licensing Act, she had been in discussions with colleagues within the Council’s Planning Services and could confirm that the premises had no conditions restricting hours and the use class of the building was A1 (shops).

 

The application sought a licence for the supply of alcohol off the premises Monday to Sunday from 08:00 to 22:00 hours.

 

The Chairman invited the applicant to present the application for a premises licence.  Mr McCann stated that B&M was a rapidly expanding variety retailer employing 25,000 people in 500 stores. He referred to section M of the application which set out the steps that would be taken to promote the four licensing objectives. Following discussions with Kent Police, a number of conditions had been agreed, as follows:

 

1.    CCTV will be provided in the form of a recordable system, capable of providing pictures of evidential quality in all lighting conditions.

 

•  Equipment must be maintained in good working order, be correctly time and date stamped, recordings MUST be kept on the hard drive and kept for a period of 31 days and handed to Police upon reasonable request. 

•  The premises licence holder must ensure at all times a DPS or appointed member of staff is capable and competent at downloading CCTV footage in a recordable format to the Police and Local Authority upon reasonable request. 

•   The recording equipment and hard drive shall be kept in a secure environment under the control of the DPS or other responsible named individual.

•   In the event of technical failure of the CCTV equipment the premises licence holder or DPS must report the failure to the Police Licensing Officer within 24 hours unless the CCTV will be repaired before that time (licensing.north.division@kent.pnn.police.uk)

 

2.    All persons that sell or supply alcohol to customers must have licensing training. 

 

Training should take place within six weeks of employment and any new employees will be supervised until the training has taken place. 

Training must include:

 

•    Avoiding sales of alcohol or age restricted products to those under the age of 18.

•     Recognising customers who appear drunk and refusing sale or supply of alcohol.

•     Knows the licensing objectives and have read and understood licence conditions.

•     Can produce licences/certificates/permits relevant to the premises in the absence of licence holder/DPS.

•     Refresher training should be repeated a minimum of every twelve months or earlier if required due to changes of legislation.

•     Training records must be kept on the premises and shall contain the nature, content and frequency of all training.

•     Records must be made available for inspection by Police, Police Licensing Officer and authorised officers from the Local Authority upon reasonable request either electronically or hard copy.

           

3.    The License Holder will maintain auditable refusal/incident records. These records will detail the following:

 

a)    Day, Date and Time of Refusal/Incident.

b)    Nature of Refusal/Incident and reason.

c)    Details of or description of the individual.

           

These records will be made available for inspection to any Police Officer, Police Licensing Officer, and Officer of the Local Authority immediately upon demand.

 

4.    No beer, lager or cider above 6.5% ABV will be sold.

 

5.    No single can sales of beer, lager or cider will be made, only sales in multipacks of 4 or more.

 

Referring to the representations submitted by the Director of Public Health, as set out in the agenda report, Mr McCann said that all the suggested conditions were acceptable to the applicant, with the exception of the following:

 

•    That no beer, lager, cider or spirit mixer above 5.5% AVB will be sold.

•    That no miniature bottles of spirits of 20 cl or below shall be sold from the premises. 

 

Mr McCann explained that B&M stocked some real ale brands above 6.5% AVB and also gift sets that included miniature bottles. He advised that B&M stores stocked a limited alcohol selection to the rear of the shop floor. Across the country alcohol sales accounted for only 5 to 10% of total sales and the nature and presentation of alcohol was not attractive to street drinkers. Pricing was comparable to competitors and there would be no alcohol promotions or refrigeration. There was a state of the art CCTV system at the store and a security guard would be on duty daily during all but three hours when the store was open.

 

Mr McCann said that the additional conditions suggested by Mr Fowler, relating to the installation of a litter bin and litter picking patrols, and also that Mr Watts be the Designated Premises Supervisor at the store, were acceptable to the applicant.

 

Mr McCann recognised that street drinking was a serious issue in this location but observed that there was currently no cumulative impact policy in place. He concluded that this was a modest application which would not have an adverse effect on the four licensing objectives.

 

In response to questioning by the objectors, Mr McCann and Mr Watts confirmed that the presence of a security guard would reduce the risk of proxy sales. Staff training would cover Challenge 25 and how to deal with intoxicated people in the store. A refusals book would be used and reviewed on a daily basis. They confirmed that the display of alcohol would be limited to half of one side of one aisle; although this may move around the store it would always be located towards the rear.  The CCTV system would cover the car park and the security guard would also patrol this area. Litter picking would extend beyond the immediate environs of the premises.  

 

In response to questioning by Panel members, Mr McCann recognised that street drinkers might be looking for opportunities to purchase alcohol early in the morning and said that security staff shift patterns would be adapted accordingly should the need arise.  He confirmed that the hours of trading on Sundays would comply with those permitted under law and explained that the application stated 08:00 to 22:00 hours to avoid the need for a new application should the legislation change. 

 

Next, the Chairman invited those who had submitted representations against the application to state their objections. The Health Improvement Project Co-ordinator presented the report of the Director of Public Health, which was appended to the agenda report and provided statistical information on the area in which the store was located. This highlighted that the area was among the most deprived in Medway. She referred to a study commissioned by Public Health in 2014 which identified a clear link between alcohol related harms, hospital admissions, alcohol related crimes and deprived areas where there was a density of licensed premises. The Director’s report highlighted the high levels crime and ambulance call-outs in the area and also the issues of alcohol related litter and street drinking. The Health Improvement Project Co-ordinator reported that Chatham town centre had a long history of issues with homelessness and associated street drinking, adding that she had observed alcohol related litter and anti social behaviour in the area.  The Health Improvement Project Co-ordinator referred to case law which supported the approach that a licensing authority may take into consideration the impact that licensable activities had on a range of factors, such as crime and the quality of life for residents, workers and visitors to an area, in order to promote the licensing objectives. In conclusion, she stressed that although the Director’s representations included suggested conditions, he opposed the application and asked that the Panel refuse it.

 

Mr Fowler, as a local resident, also expressed concern about the visible evidence of street drinking along the river front.  He advised that many children lived in the area and should not be exposed to street drinking. He said that not all of the discarded cans were for high strength alcohol which suggested that street drinkers purchased different strength beers and lagers. He concluded that another retail outlet selling alcohol would only contribute to the problem.  Mr Fowler therefore suggested that, should a licence be granted, the sale of alcohol should be restricted to strengths of 5.5% ABV or below. In addition, he requested that alcohol should only be displayed in a fixed position within the store, more than 5 metres from the entrance.

 

On behalf of Councillor Maple, who had submitted a written representation as a Councillor from a neighbouring ward, Councillor Tejan highlighted the unique problems in River ward with regard to street drinkers.  He referred to B&M’s website, which showed alcohol for sale at reasonable prices, and concluded that there would be potential for street drinkers to purchase alcohol from the store.  To counter this, he suggested that the store should limit alcohol sales to larger packs.

 

There being no questions for the objectors from the applicant or members of the Panel, the Chairman invited the parties to the hearing to sum up. The Health Improvement Project Co-ordinator stated that the Director of Public Health was of the view that the number of outlets selling alcohol contributed cumulatively to alcohol related issues. The Council’s Licensing and Safety Committee had recently approved a public consultation on the possible introduction of cumulative impact policies. However, the Panel could still take account of cumulative impact without such policies being in place.

 

Summing up for the applicant, Mr McCann said that the application would not add to crime and disorder in the area and reiterated the possible conditions that had been agreed and offered by the applicant. He stressed that any conditions attached to the licence must be necessary and appropriate.  

 

All parties to the hearing left the room during the Panel’s deliberations and returned before the Chairman announced the Panel’s decision.

 

Decision:

 

(a)     The Panel, having considered the evidence presented by the applicant and his representative, and also by those who had submitted representations against the application and their representatives, granted the application for a premises licence for B&M Store, 22 Medway Road, Chatham ME4 4HA for the hours applied for.

 

(b)     In order to meet the licensing objectives, the Panel considered the following conditions need to be added to the operating schedule in addition to the mandatory conditions:

 

(i)    The conditions agreed between Kent Police and the applicant, as set out above and at Appendix B to the agenda report, with the exception of Condition 4 which shall read “No beer, lager, cider or spirit mixer above 5.5% ABV will be sold.”

 

(ii)   No alcohol will be displayed within 5 metres of any access points from the street.

 

(iii)  A litter bin will be provided at the entrance/exit to the store and staff will regularly clear litter in the vicinity of the store.

 

(iv)  The store will operate in accordance with the law on Sunday trading.