Agenda item

The applicant has applied for a new Premise Licence for 1A Victoria Street, Gillingham, Medway, ME7 1ED.

All responsible authorities have been consulted in line with the Licensing Act 2003.

Representations have been received from the Public Health team and the Police. No agreements have been reached.

The Licensing Officer informed the Panel that the applicant had applied for a new Premise Licence for 1A Victoria Street, Gillingham, Medway, ME7 1ED. All responsible authorities had been consulted in line with the Licensing Act 2003 and representations had been received from the Public Health team and the Police. No agreements had been reached due to the premises being in the Cumulative Impact Policy area.

The Chairperson invited the applicant and their representative to speak in support of their application.

The applicant’s representative, Mr. Fender, explained to the Panel that this was a new application for a convenience store under the Premier franchise with the intention to open the premises from 6am to 11pm seven days per week. The Panel were informed that if a licence to sell alcohol was granted then the intention was to sell alcohol from Monday to Sunday 9am until 11pm. Mr. Thayananthan’s previous experience of managing licensed premises in a Cumulative Impact Policy area was drawn to the Panel’s attention as were the proposed conditions detailed in pages 24-26 of the application (Appendix A to the report).

Mr. Fender advised the Panel that Kent Police had informed him that due to the location of the premises in the Cumulative Impact Policy area the application was likely to be refused unless the premises were shown to be exceptional. The Panel were informed that the S.182 of the Licensing Act does not state that a premises must be exceptional but that it can be treated as an exception to the Cumulative Impact Policy if measures were proposed to show that there would be no adverse impact and that the premises would not add to the cumulative impact. It was explained that the proposed conditions addressed issues in the Cumulative Impact Policy arears including street drinking. It was proposed that the premises would not sell, display or offer for sale single cans of beer or cider, single bottles less than 500ml, no beers lagers or ciders exceeding 5.5% abv and no spirits less than 200ml.

The Chairperson asked the objectors if they had questions for the applicant. In response to questions from Kent Police regarding whether Mr Thayananthan intended to operate the new premises and another premises he managed in Luton Road once it reopened after fire damage was repaired, Mr Fender confirmed that he would be operating both premises with an individual designated premises supervisor for each site and all staff would be trained.

The Panel questioned the applicant regarding the franchise arrangements for the proposed premises and whether he had experienced any difficulties whilst operating the premises in Luton Road. In response the applicant confirmed the franchise arrangements and explained that he had not had any problems in the last 3 years at the Luton Road premises. The Panel also asked the applicant to explain what the licensing objectives were and how we intended to promote them and deal with any difficulties he could experience with customers.

The Objectors were the given the opportunity to express their concerns. Kent Police informed the Panel that the Cumulative Impact Policy areas were put in place due to issues with crime and disorder, excessive alcohol related hospital admissions, alcohol related ambulance call outs and the hidden harms related to alcohol. The high number of off licenses in Gillingham and Chatham High Street were referred to as were heat maps which showed that crime and anti-social behaviour was still an issue in Gillingham High Street and Kent Police requested that the application be refused.

The Panel asked Kent Police if the data used to produce the heat maps could be broken down to show how much of the crime or anti-social behaviour was alcohol related. They responded to say that this data was not available. The Panel also questioned the applicant on how alcohol would be stored during opening hours when he was not permitted to sell alcohol. The applicant assured the Panel that it could be stored in shelving with shutters which could be closed when alcohol was not on sale, if the licence were to be granted.

In summing up Kent Police stated that the Cumulative Impact Policy areas were in place for good reason, and it was not just the street drinkers but the hidden harms from alcohol that could be contributed to by the granting of a new licence. Kent Police did not believe that the application showed any reasons why the premises should be an exception to the Licensing Policy and therefore felt the application should be refused.

The applicant’s representative summed up by informing the Panel that, due to the proposed conditions and not selling street drinkers alcohol of choice, the premises would not add to the overall negative impact in the area if licensed. The representative therefore requested that the application for a new licence should be granted.

With the exception of the Legal Representative and the Democratic Services Officers, all present left the room during the Panel’s deliberations, returning to hear the Panel’s decision.

Decision:

The Panel, having considered all the written evidence and listened carefully to the oral evidence presented by the Applicant and objectors found exceptional reasons to grant a premises licence for 1A Victoria Street, Gillingham, Medway ME7 1ED, subject to the proposed conditions as set out in the paper application, but with revised operating hours and additional conditions as set out below.

Sale by Retail of Alcohol

Monday to Sunday 11:00 to 23:00

All alcohol shall be stored in storage units with lockable shutters to enable the alcohol to be removed from display and sale during non-licenced hours.

The premises licence holder must be the designated premises supervisor for 1A Victoria Street, Gillingham, Medway ME7 1ED and in his absence a trained personal licence holder must always be on the premises when alcohol is to be sold.