(a)

considered the report from the Director of Public Health;

(b)

considered the information that the Devon and Cornwall Police had reached an agreement with the applicant regarding licensing hours and subsequently withdrew their representation;

(c)

heard from the applicants and considered the applicant’s written representations that -

?

they took on the business four to five months ago, to help local customers, introduced a cash machine and other important services to the shop;

?

they had working class customers who requested to buy alcohol later than the current opening hours and also people shopped on their way home from night shifts, who had requested to buy alcohol in the morning which was why they wished to sell alcohol from 6am;

?

they had invested in the shop to provide a local business and wanted to provide flexibility for the community;

?

that they also owned three garages that sold alcohol and the garages would cater for people driving to the area to buy alcohol, rather than customers driving to this shop;

?

there was a different set of customers for the shop than the garages; the shop’s customers were mainly working class or older residents some of whom did not even drive and had been in the area for 30 to 40 years;

?

this was their first venture into retail;

?

they were willing to work with the Police over any concerns around selling alcohol during football matches;

?

they had negotiated with the Police to change their application from applying for opening and alcohol licence from 24 hours to 6am to 1am, Monday to Sunday; this reduction in the hours of their application was to combat the problems that were experienced between 1am and 3am when all pubs and clubs were closing and people were making their way back home; the change in hours limited access to alcohol to combat public nuisance;

(d)

they had the following in place to deal with the licensing objectives -

?

Prevention of Crime and Disorder -

?

the premises was covered by CCTV and panic attack button equipment directly linked to the Police; the premises was covered by CCTV inside and outside;

?

high value products were located behind the till;

?

staff were regularly guided/trained in how to prevent crime and disorder in the store;

?

there was no evidence, in the last six months in relation to any crime, disorder or anti-social behaviour at the premises, or related to the management of the premises which had to be registered with the local authority;

?

Public Safety -

?

provided details of safety of the public on the premises, in terms of fire safety and electrical certificate, fire extinguishers on the premises and up keep/maintenance of the CCTV system;

?

Prevention of Public Nuisance -

?

staff were fully trained regarding sale of alcohol and followed Challenge 25 selling policy;

?

had a bin just outside the premises to minimise litter, this was regularly emptied; also undertook regular litter picking to keep frontage clean;

?

maintained an incident book of details of occurrences of disorder,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

(a)

considered the report from the Director of Public Health;

(b)

noted that there had been no representations made by Devon and Cornwall Police, or any other Responsible Authorities;

(c)

considered the in-depth written representations and policy document provide by the applicant and heard summary representations from the applicant and their Solicitor as follows -

?

Ladbrokes previously operated the premises and the intention was to replace the betting shop business with a bingo premises licence; the company operated 90 similar businesses across the country and one in Plymouth;

?

there had been a betting shop operation at the location for 20 years;

?

bingo was a softer form of gambling and the customer profile was different to that of a betting shop;

?

customer congregation outside of this type of business was lower and it was policy to ensure that this was actively managed; the company had 163 licensed premises across the country with no problems in other venues;

?

bingo had to be provided on the site as a condition of the licence, so would not become a slot machine only business;

?

there was no net increase in the number of gambling premises in the area;

?

consultation with the Police team took place as part of the application and the Police were not aware of any problems with the premises; no objections had been received by Police, Environmental Health or Child Protection;

?

the Gambling Act was a permissive regime and the applicant was aware that all promotions must be reasonably consistent with the licensing objectives; the policy documents provided showed that the company’s controls go beyond what was required to satisfy the licensing objectives;

?

the premises would be operating as an adult only venue no under 18’s allowed; operate Challenge 25 property with procedures, training, records that accompany that policy;

?

the company had a social responsibility policy dealing with customer behaviour, social responsibility; large volume of resources provided towards compliance in the form of an audit team which reviewed all venue to maintain standards; this regular assessment would identify any potential incidents which would be reported to senior management for action;

?

the representation from the resident was one of nuisance, this was not a licensing objective under the Gambling Act, however the applicant would manage the impact upon the local community and promote all reasonable steps to keep impact to a minimum, although it was rare for problems outside the premises in the applicant’s experience;

?

the applicant confirmed that marketing and advertising agreed with the Gambling Commission codes of policy with regard to venues; window displays reduced the line of sight from the street to the gambling and barriers within the premises comply with the Council’s own policy;

?

there was a safe play app that customers could use to monitor their own behaviour and self-regulate; the applicant’s staff undertook comprehensive training with a key focus on customer interactions and player harm; where customers have requested exclusion, this was monitored so that the customer can be informed of any breach; this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.