(a)

considered the report from the Director for Public Health:

(b)

heard from the applicant that:

·         He will have CCTV at the premises;

·         Staff will be CRB checked;

·         They will have a challenge 21 underage sales policy;

·         Alcohol will only be served with food;

·         They are not seeking to attract a rowdy clientele;

·         The alcohol sales are an add on to the main business which will be a deli, café and shop;

·         Only bottled beer and wine will be served;

·         There is no bar in the premises;

·         They have a no drugs policy and a four drink policy;

·         Noise will be kept to a minimum;

·         One member of staff will be working at the counter with another on the shop floor;

·         He lives in the village;

·         The application no longer included off sales following consultation with the police;

·         He would be happy to restrict delivery times to address the concerns of local residents;

·         The maximum capacity of the premises is 60 people which is a figure set by the fire authority. There will be approximately 19 tables;

·         There is no application for an outside seating area. This would form a separate application at a later date if necessary;

·         He sees the premises as being a social hub for the village;

·         The location of a smoking area is under discussion with the developer as is storage for refuse;

·         He was willing to restrict the times when he would dispose of glass in response to representations from local residents;

·         He has been in the trade for 25 years, has had residents meetings and provided his contact details to local residents in case there are any problems;

·         He was happy for the smoking area to be monitored with CCTV and noise monitoring equipment;

(c)

Considered the written and verbal representations made by local residents (including a petition) as follows:

Prevention of Public Nuisance:

• The premises are situated with residential properties both directly above, next to and opposite.  There was concern that the residents would be disturbed by noise from the premises until 10 pm.  Residents felt that the hours of operation were excessive and should be reduced to avoid disturbing the peace and quiet of a residential area.  One resident suggested that the hours of operation should be limited to 10 am to 8 pm on a Sunday and 8.30 am to 9.30 pm on a Monday to Friday.  Concerns were also raised about potential noise issues from the smoking area.

            This was relevant under this licensing objective but members considered             that the concerns could be addressed by conditions 1 – 4 set out below.

• There was concern from local residents about noise and disturbance from deliveries taking place at the premises at times outside of the operating hours.

            This was relevant under this licensing objective and members considered that the concerns could be addressed by the imposition of condition 5 below.

• There was a potential for a nuisance to be caused from deliveries taking place in that they would cause disruption to the free flow of traffic as the road is a narrow and busy single lane street which is one of the main access roads to other parts of the residential estate.

This was relevant under this licensing objective however the only matter   before the committee was that of the retail sale of alcohol and committee               did not consider that deliveries of alcohol would be excessive from the        information they had been given.  If problems did occur then this would be a matter for other agencies to enforce.

• There was a potential for light pollution to affect residential premises nearby.

            This was relevant under this licensing objective however the committee did not consider that this was a problem which was linked to the hours of               operation for the licensable activities applied for.

• There was concern that the use of an outside seating area for dining and alcohol consumption would cause noise problems for the nearby residents due to their proximity to the premises and hours of operation.

            This was not relevant as there was no application for the use of the outside area.

• There was concern that there was a potential for smells from any kitchen waste ventilation system.

            This was not considered to be relevant to the application which was for the retail sale of alcohol.

• There was a potential for noise, mess, smells and vermin if the appropriate provision for disposal of food, glass and other waste was not dealt with appropriately.

This was relevant under this licensing objective but only with regard to its link to the licensable activity applied for.  The committee considered there was a potential noise problem from glass bottles being disposed but that this could be addressed by condition 6 below.

• There is limited parking in the area and there is already an issue with a shortage of on-site parking spaces.  The area outside the premises has very limited access for pedestrians and motor vehicles.  The existing small car park is thought to be for use for Tesco’s.

            This was not considered to be relevant under any of the licensing objectives as parking and road traffic issues were matters for enforcement by other agencies.

• There was a potential for litter problems from smoking and takeaway containers.

This was relevant under this licensing objective in relation to smoking as food did not form part of the application for consideration by the committee.  With regards to potential litter problems associated with smoking the committee felt this would be addressed by condition 7 below.

Prevention of crime and disorder

• There have been past problems in the area with anti-social behaviour and alcohol abuse which are now under control due to work from many agencies. If this licence was granted the problems could resurface particularly with the off sales of alcohol.

            This was relevant under this licensing objective however the committee took account of the fact that off sales had been removed from the application and there had been no sustained representation by the police on this point. Therefore on the information they had been given the committee did not consider that the grant of a licence would contribute to a recurrence of the issues in the area.

Public Safety

• Having an outside seating area would cause disruption to the safe passage of pedestrians and vehicles.

            This was not considered to be relevant as no application had been made for the use of the outside area.

(d)

Other representations

There were written representations from local residents querying whether the premises had the correct planning permission to operate as applied for.  Additionally a representation was made that there was a current Designated Public Places Order being considered for the area.  Neither of these matters were considered by the committee as they do not relate to any of the licensing objectives.