Agenda and minutes

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or an Affected Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman confirmed that all parties understood the procedure to be followed for the hearing.

Report for Licensing Panel

Annex A – Application Form

Annex B – Plan of Premises

Annex C – Representation 1 Thames Valley Police

Annex D – Representation 2 Trading Standards

Annex E – Representation 3 Environmental Health

Annex F – Representation 4

Annex G – Representation 5 Drug & Alcohol Action Team

Annex H – Representation 6

Annex I – Representation 7

Annex J – Map showing location of premises

Annex K – Proposed Conditions

The Panel’s decision was that the application for a new premises licence in respect of RP-Jai’s Liquor Stores Unit 1, Market Street, Bracknell, RG12 1JG shall be granted, subject to the conditions at Annex 1 Mandatory Conditions of Annex K of the agenda papers and subject also to the amended proposals from mediation and the conditions as amended at Annex K, Annex 2 and Annex 3, as set out hereafter. This meant that the applicant could operate both the premises and the delivery service for 16 hours between 07.00 and 23.00 rather than the 24 hour opening that was sought by the applicant.

The Panel carefully considered all the information presented, both written and oral, from:

• the Licensing Team Leader, who outlined the issues;
• the applicants, Mr & Mrs Dhaliwal and their agent, Mr Panchal;
• the responsible authorities Ms Hannah Lumley, Trading Standards; Mr John Garside, Environmental Health; Mr Mike King, Thames Valley Police who submitted oral and written representations;
• the interested parties,  Ms Jillian Hunt, Drug & Alcohol Services, who submitted oral and written representations, and three other written representations.

These representations were considered together with reference to the appropriate Licensing Objective: The Prevention of Public Nuisance, Crime and Disorder and the Protection of Children from Harm, the Council’s own Licensing Policy and the Secretary of State’s guidance.

At the conclusion of the licensing panel, having heard all participants present, the participants and particularly the applicant confirmed that they had been given the opportunity to say all they wished to say.

The Panel noted that three of the responsible authorities had made representations. The Panel were advised that Trading Standards, Environmental Health and Thames Valley Police had considered the application for a new premises licence for RP Jai’s Liquor Stores, and together with four other representations, had the following concerns:

Crime and Disorder

·         The proposed off licence was situated in a Designated Public Places Order (DPPO) within the area of Bracknell Town Centre and accessibility to alcohol would under undermine this control.

·         The impact of noise from potential customers on close neighbours, living less than 50 yards from the premises and in the general area, arising from the opening hours proposed by the applicant.

·         The increased likelihood of incidents occurring in the area of the premises due to migration from the off licence to other parts of the town centre. Together with migration from other licensed premises which would have closed prior to the applicant’s premises, had the 24 hour opening been granted.

Sale of Alcohol

·         The hours for the sale of alcohol being applied for as 24 hours a day could and would encourage increased occurrences in the evenings, particularly in the warmer months.

·         The vicinity of other licensed premises nearby; currently there was only one other independent off licence operation in the DPPO which operated between 09.00 and 17.30. The granting of a 24 hour licence would seriously undermine the impact and effectiveness of the DPPO.

·         Thames Valley Police were investigating the regular sale of alcohol to street drinkers,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.