An apology for absence was received from Cllr Emma Morley; Cllr Milner substituted.

No declarations of interest.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and went through the process he intended to follow during the Panel. He further explained that once everyone had made their submissions and all questions had been answered, the hearing would close to all parties except the Panel, the Council’s Legal Advisor and the Committee & Scrutiny Assistant, for the Panel to consider their decision.

The Licensing Panel was asked to consider an application for a new premises licence under the Licensing Act 2003 in respect of the premises known as Convenience Store, 69 Stonebridge Road, Northfleet, Kent DA11 9DT.

The Senior Licensing Officer gave a brief overview of the application and background information to the Panel. 

The application was submitted by Arcci Designs on behalf of Mr Thurkatharan Murugaiyah for a New Premises Licence under section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003.

The application was for:

Off sales of alcohol Monday to Saturday 07.00 to 23.00 and Sunday 08.00 to 22.00.

Following the 28 day consultation period the below representations were received:

·         On 4 September, Licensing received a representation from a member of public. The detail of the objection could be found at Appendix 4

·         On 8 September, Licensing received confirmation from Kent Police and the agent that an agreement had been made. There were four conditions that would be added to the operating schedule. Details of these can be found as Appendix 5. It was noted that condition 4 could not be implemented as it was already covered by legislation. Therefore only conditions 1, 2 and 3 would be added to the operating schedule

The applicant’s agent addressed the Panel and outlined the reasons for his applicant’s application, his background history, addressed the concerns raised by the objector and his approach to ensure the Licensing Objectives were adhered too.

The Chair invited the Applicant to also address the Panel if he wished to do so but the Applicant stated that the Applicants’ Agent had accurately outlined all of the necessary information.

The Chair opened the Panel to questions from Councillors; the below responses were received from the applicant’s agent: 

·         There wasn’t a public house within five yards of the proposed location as stated in the objectors written representation

·         The previous use of the building was a kebab takeaway and the applicant had no prior involvement in that operation

·         The applicant had only just taken control of the building and was seeking to convert it into an convenience store with an off-licence

·         The licensable hours (7am-11pm) were requested as they had been used before successfully  in a prior establishment of the applicant and it would allow night shift workers to be able to purchase products upon completion of their shifts early in the morning

·         Advice from experts had been sought on the layout of the shop to monitor footfall better and regulate the amount of people in the store; the layout also encompassed positions for CCTV cameras

·         The strong spirits and wine would be located behind the counter and no alcohol; would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.