Agenda and draft minutes

The Licensing Panel considered the appointment of a Chairman for the meeting.

Resolved:

That Councillor Hutton be appointed Chairman for the meeting.

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in doing so state:-

(1) the type of interest concerned

(2) the nature of the interest concerned; and

(3) whether they have or have not sat on a Planning Committee which has previously considered a planning application in respect of a licensed premises which is also subject to consideration for a premises licence as part of the agenda for this meeting.

If any Member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman of the Panel will summarise the procedure and announce the equal maximum amount of time for each party to speak for the hearing.

A.         Items 1 and 4 (b) will be undertaken in private session by the Panel and not in the Meeting Room.

B.         Items 2, 3 and 4(a) will be recommended to the Panel to be held in public.

C.         The Panel may decide to exclude the public from all or part of a hearing where it considers that the public interest in so doing outweighs the public interest in the hearing, or that part of the hearing, taking place in public. (This includes a party and any person assisting or representing a party)

The Chairman explained the procedure for the meeting, including the order in which the application and representations would be heard and that each party would be allocated 20 minutes to present their case.

To consider an application to vary a Premises Licence for Happy Shopper, 234 Dickson Road, Blackpool, FY1 2JS.

A. Application and representations submitted. To consider the attached report.

B. Determination of the application to vary a Premises Licence – Happy Shopper.

The Licensing Panel will indicate how the decision is to be communicated to interested parties.

The Licensing Panel considered an application to vary the Premises Licence for Happy Shopper, 234 Dickson Road, to extend the terminal hour for off sales of alcohol by one hour from 23.00 to midnight. Mr Sudheesh Pallikulangara, director of the applicant company Sudi BB Ltd, was in attendance accompanied by his agent Mr Mark Marshall. Objections had been received from two members of the public, Mr Mark Courtney and Ms Katie Barker, who attended to present their representations.

Mr Marshall presented the case on behalf of the applicant. The premises was a convenience store / off licence which was situated outside of the Cumulative Impact Assessment area. Consultation had taken place with Lancashire Constabulary and the Licensing Authority prior to the application being submitted and the Panel’s attention was drawn to the additional conditions offered in regards to CCTV and a proof of age policy which as a result had attracted no objections from any of the Responsible Authorities.

Mr Pallikulangara was described as an experienced operator who had a controlling interest in seven other similar stores across the Fylde coast. The premises had been acquired in March 2022 and had recently undergone refurbishment and would be operated by a small team of dedicated staff and an operational manager who worked across the other stores in the group. Addressing the Panel directly Mr Pallikulangara explained the circumstances of the incidents highlighted in the objections which had taken place during daytime trading hours and related to thefts from the premises for which he had been a victim rather than a perpetrator of crime.

Mr Marshall concluded by advising the Panel that two Temporary Event Notices had recently been applied for to test the proposed later opening hours which had passed without incident. He therefore considered that there would be no adverse impact on the licensing objectives if the extended hours were approved and so invited the Panel to grant the application.

Mr Courtney presented the representations on behalf of himself and Ms Barker. He explained that the premises was situated in an area with a number of residential properties as well as business premises and which had a strong community spirit. There were drop in centres in the local vicinity for recovering alcoholics and ex-offenders and Mr Courtney expressed concern over the proposed later hours which could attract undesirable customers after other nearby stores had closed. Whilst they welcomed the investment in the premises, in his and Ms Barker’s opinion there was no need for the hours to be extended and the later closing time was inappropriate for the area. They therefore requested that the Panel refused the application.

Members carefully considered the information provided by all parties. The residents’ objections were acknowledged however the Panel was mindful that it could not consider “need” and had to base its decision on evidence of the impact of the proposed variation upon the licensing objectives. It was noted that no representations had been submitted by any of the responsible authorities and members considered  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.