Agenda and draft minutes

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

Resolved:

That Councillor D Scott 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 on this occasion.

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 that an equal time limit of twenty minutes had been allocated for all parties.

To consider an application for the variation of a Premises Licence for Tesco Express, 96-98 Whitegate Drive.

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

B. Determination of the application for the variation of a  Premises Licence – Tesco Express

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

The Licensing Panel considered an application for the Variation of a Premises Licence in respect of Tesco Express, 96-98 Whitegate Drive. The variation application had originally sought amended hours for the sale of alcohol to be 6am to Midnight- 7 days a week.

Ms Hardish Purewal, Tesco Licensing and Miss Catherine Kane were in attendance and spoke in support of their application. Ms Purewal explained that following discussions with the Licensing Service the applicant had accepted that the hours for the sale of alcohol should be amended to be 7am to 11pm- 7 days a week including all public and bank holidays. Ms Purewal spoke briefly to outline the systems already in place to ensure that Tesco promoted the Licensing Objectives and its corporate responsibility. Ms Purewal emphasised the relatively modest nature of the revised operating hours and the keenness of the operator to work with the responsible authorities.

Mr Lee Petrak, Licensing and Trading Standards Manager, who had made representations on behalf of the Licensing Authority was not in attendance and the Licensing Panel noted that while the hours of operation had been amended the representation had not been formally withdrawn. It considered the representation based on the written statement.

The Licensing Panel considered that given the relatively modest nature of the revised variation that it would not impact on the Licensing Objectives nor on the Cumultative Impact Area. It therefore concluded that the variation should be granted as applied.

Resolved:

That the Premises Licence in respect of Tesco Express 96-98 Whitegate Drive be granted with the revised hours of the sale of alcohol to be 7am to 11pm Monday to Sunday all days of the year.