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 representation would be heard and that each party would be allocated 10 minutes to present their case.

To consider a Temporary Event Notice for Sagga News, 30 Deansgate, Blackpool, FY1 1BN

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

B. Determination of the Temporary Event Notice for Sagga News.

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

The Licensing Panel considered a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) for Sagaa News, 30 Deansgate. The applicant, Mr Sivasankar Murugaiyan, was in attendance accompanied by his representative Mr Mark Marshall. PC Guy Harrison attended to present the representation submitted by Lancashire Constabulary.

At the start of the meeting Mrs Sharon Davies, Legal Advisor to the Panel, clarified the position in regards to the Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) Policy which had been referred to in the officer’s report. It was explained that although the premises fell with the CIA area and evidence from that Policy could be referred to, the CIA Policy did not apply to Temporary Event Notices and therefore the starting point for determination was that of grant, not refusal, unless it was demonstrated that allowing the TEN to proceed would undermine the licensing objectives.

Mr Marshall presented the case on behalf of the applicant. The premises was a small newsagents in the town centre which had recently undergone refurbishment and was not currently licensed. The TEN requested permission for “off” sales of alcohol between 09.00-21.00 for a seven day period from 4-10 November 2022 to evidence a period of responsible trading and to show that the licensing objectives would not be undermined prior to a full Premises Licence application being made.

Mr Marshall noted Lancashire Constabulary’s representation and explained that as the majority of incidents referred to in the Police submission took place during the evening the applicant had made a verbal offer to reduce the terminal hour to 18.00 and had proposed a number of conditions:

·         No beer or cider above 5.5% ABV would be sold

·         No single cans of beer or cider would be sold

·         Proof of age training would be in place for any person selling alcohol during the event.

·         No more than 20% of the shop display area would be used for alcohol products

Mrs Davies reminded the Panel that it had no powers to modify the hours of a Temporary Event Notice, nor to add conditions, therefore the proposed amendments would only be an undertaking by the applicant and would not be enforceable. In response, Mr Marshall assured members that the applicant would adhere to the undertakings so as not to jeopardise any future applications and following discussion agreed that the shop would only open between 09.00-18.00 during the requested TEN period in order that no alcohol was exposed for unauthorised sale outside of those hours. In Mr Marshall’s opinion, the hours requested in the TEN were modest and he did not believe the granting of the TEN would have any significant impact on the licensing objectives and therefore invited the Panel to allow the event to go ahead.

PC Guy Harrison presented the representation on behalf of Lancashire Constabulary. He highlighted that the premises fell within the CIA area and, although noting that the Policy did not apply to TENs, explained that the area still suffered from some of the highest numbers of alcohol related anti-social behaviour incidents, crimes and health-related  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.