Agenda and minutes

(Director of Governance) To declare interests in any item on this agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct.

The Sub-Committee noted and agreed procedure for the conduct of business.

(Director of Neighbourhoods) To consider the attached report.

The three Councillors that presided over this item were Councillor D Dorrell, P Keska and M Sartin.

The Chairman introduced the Members and Officers present and outlined the procedure that would be followed for the determination of the application. The Chairman welcomed the applicant’s legal representative, R Botkai, the Licensing Officer for Malthurst Limited, N Law and the station manager Robert Nelson. Also in attendance were two objectors M Haaden and W Careford.

(a)          The Application before the Sub-Committee

The Licensing Compliance Office N Clark introduced the application. The application had been made by Malthurst Limited, the premises licence holder for a variation to the premises licence for the Four Wantz Service Station, Ongar. The applicant was requesting to extend the hours for the sale of alcohol to 24 hours daily; to remove all of the conditions for the premises licence as detailed in Annex 2 of the report, and to replace with other conditions as set out in section 16 of the application; and to make some alterations to the layout of the premises as indicated in the report.

(b)          Presentation of the Applicant’s Case

Mr Botkai introduce the revised application saying that they had already had a late night refreshment licence and wanted to vary the alcohol hours to 24 hours seven days a week. All responsible authorities have been notified and none had objected. And they were in accordance with the council’s policy that says they could sell alcohol to match their opening hours.

The objectors had provided a petition raising an objection to this application. However, objectors should have put in individual objections to make them valid, and because of this we ask that little weight be put on this petition.

They also said that serious incidents had occurred but did not supply details. They also raise concerns about the alleyway across the road from the site and the litter. The alleyway was some distance from the store and not its responsibility, the litter could have come from anywhere. There had been a robbery some years ago where they were after cash and not interested in the contents of the shop. There were also some concerns about underage drinking; all our cashiers will ask for ID when serving younger people. There were no problems of this kind at present. Other shops have had problems with proxy sales, but he did not believe that this happened here. Also, there had never been any customer complaints about litter or operation of the store.

(c)          Questions for the Applicant from the Sub-Committee

Councillor Sartin asked about the range of alcohol sold. She was told that it was the standard range, including sprits, although they did not sell the high strength cider.

Councillor Keska asked how many times the premises had not stayed open the full 24 hours. He was told that as far as they could remember, they had never closed.

Councillor Keska the asked how many designated supervisors they were for the premises. Mr Botkai explained that by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 61.