Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Municipal Offices. View directions

Contact: Claire Morris, Democratic Services  01242 264130

Items
No. Item

1.

Election of Chair

Minutes:

Cllr Willingham was elected as Chair.

2.

Declarations of interest

Minutes:

Cllrs Boyes and Willingham had visited the site both independently and prior to the meeting.

3.

Application for a Premises Licence for 87 Salisbury Avenue, Cheltenham GL51 3DA pdf icon PDF 434 KB

Senior Licensing Officers report

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Senior Licensing Officer presented the report regarding an application for a premises licence for the sale of alcohol for retail at the premises located at 87 Salisbury Avenue between the hours of 06.00 and 23.00 hours. 

Conditions had been added to the application by the Police Authority which the applicant was happy to comply with if the application was approved by the committee.

30 representations had been received from local objectors and those were attached to the report.

A member queried the determination of the application regarding the variance in the core time for selling alcohol of 9am as stated in the policy and the applicants request for 6am. The Officer explained this depended on any relevant representations to the earlier opening time.

In reply to whether certain community groups in the area had been able to submit objections, the Officer confirmed that all representations received were attached to the report.

The objector queried the opening times and these were confirmed by the Officer as being 6am to 11pm.

The Chair invited Mr Allan Knight who spoke in objection to the application to address the committee.  Mr Knight thanked members for this opportunity. He stated he was disappointed that alcohol would be on sale for 17 hours every day.  He pointed out the detrimental effects that alcohol had on the body, as well as the increasing risk of anti-social behaviour related to alcohol misuse and that this was not wanted in Warden Hill.  He said betting shops and off licences often attracted bad behaviour and crime and disorder and now that the betting shop in this locality had closed, a premises selling alcohol was not welcome.  He believed that the conditions put on this application by the Police, suggested what could happen in the area.  He pointed out the nature of this residential area with many local facilities frequented by families and children and did  not want to see the fabric of the community destroyed by attracting more anti-social problems.  He referred to the nearby Co-op and Morrisons and questioned the need for more buying capacity for alcohol.  Mr Knight told members he had personal experience of the effects of alcohol on a person and believed all four licensing objectives would be broken in time if this premises licence was permitted.  He suggested the committee had a moral and social obligation to reject the application.

The Chair explained that the committee needed evidence that the application would cause problems and clarified that the Police put similar conditions on most premises licences.  He suggested the premises could be well run and asked if the objector had any evidence there would be a problem.  Mr Knight replied he did not have any evidence as the shop was not currently there yet, but referred to evidence that could be found from google or other Police reports.

The Chair invited the second objector, ward councillor, Cllr Dobie, to address the committee.  He confirmed that the committee had already received a letter from his  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

Any other items the Chairman determines to be urgent and which requires a decision

Minutes:

None.