Agenda and minutes
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Contact: Pauline Ross
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Appointment of Chairman for the meeting Minutes: RESOLVED that Councillor J. M. L. A. Griffiths be appointed Chairman of the Sub-Committee for the meeting. |
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Apologies for absence Minutes: No apologies for absence were received. |
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Declarations of Interest To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests. Minutes: No declarations of interest were received. |
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Procedure Minutes: The Chairman opened the Hearing and introduced the Members of the Sub-Committee and officers present to the Applicant’s representative, so that no person who may be in a position to influence the Sub-Committee withdrew from the meeting room with the Sub-Committee when the Sub-Committee considered its decision at the conclusion of the Hearing.
The Chairman welcomed the applicant’s representative and reminded all parties present of the procedure to be followed during the Hearing. |
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Additional documents:
Minutes: The Sub-Committee was asked to consider an application for a premises licence in respect of Co-operative Food, 30 Gibb Lane, Catshill, Bromsgrove, B61 0JR, submitted by Co-operative Food Group Limited. The application was subject to a Hearing in light of three representations received from members of the public objecting to the application. The basis of their representations related to:-
· The Prevention of Crime and Disorder · The Prevention of Public Nuisance
The Senior Licensing Practitioner, Worcestershire Regulatory Services introduced the report and in doing so informed all those present that the application submitted by Co-operative Food Group Limited sought permission to use the premises for the sale by retail of alcohol for consumption off the premises during the following hours:
Every day: 06:00 hours to 23.00 hours.
Members were further informed that no representations had been received from any of the Responsible Authorities.
The case for the applicant was put forward by Mr. R. Arnot, Ward Hadaway Law Firm, the applicant’s representative. Mr. Arnot firstly gave apologies on behalf of Mr. J. Wisedale, Local Operations Manager, Co-operative Food Group Limited who had been unable to attend the meeting. Mr. Arnot informed the Sub-Committee that over the last four years he had represented over 200 applications on behalf of the Co-operative Food Group Limited. Mr. Arnot highlighted that the Co-operative Food Group Limited were the fifth largest retailer with over 2,800 stores. The application before the Sub-Committee was for the sale by retail of alcohol for consumption off the premises and that alcohol sales would represent only 15% of their turnover. The premises would be a convenience store and not a dedicated off licence. The Co-operative Food Group Limited understood their responsibilities in respect of the sale of alcohol. Training managers were responsible for ensuring that all staff undertook comprehensive training and had a clear understanding of all of the Co-operative Food Group Limited policies, with additional responsibilities undertaken by their regional Risk Manager’s. Staff also undertook refresher training every two years. Stores operated a ‘Challenge 25 Policy’ and used comprehensive ‘age prompt’ tills, which acted as a reminder to staff with regards to the sale of age restricted products.
Members were further reassured that an electronic refusal register was used whereby staff were required to input the perceived age of the customer. This enabled Head Office to analyse the data and identify specific stores who could be experiencing issues with young people attempting to purchase alcohol. The culture of the Co-operative Food Group Limited was to be seen as a local community focused company and very risk averse. They would want to avoid any licence being called in for review or risk prosecution in respect of under-age sales.
The local police officer had been consulted with prior to the application being submitted and confirmed that there had been no issues logged when the site was used as a public house. No objections to the application had been raised by the police. The local police officer was in favour of a ... view the full minutes text for item 5/15 |