No apologies for absence were received.

No declarations of interest were made.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and went through the process he intended to follow during the Panel.

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 Saviany, 60-61 New Road, Gravesend Kent DA11 0AD. The Licensing Manager gave a brief overview of the application and background information to the Panel.

The application was submitted by Mr Alexandru Savescu for a New Premises Licence under section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003.

The application was for off sales of alcohol Monday to Saturday 10:00 to 20:00 hrs and Sunday 10:00 to 16:00 hrs.

The application has been correctly advertised in the local press and notices displayed on the premises for the required timescale.

During the 28 day consultation period a representation was received from a member of the public. Within the representation, the objectors made reference to cumulative impact and they had been advised, prior to the hearing, that this was not linked to the Council’s Licensing objectives.  However the issue relating to street drinkers related to the prevention of public nuisance.

The applicant addressed the Panel and outlined the reasons for the application, some background history, stated that the alcoholic drinks being sold would all be of Romanian origin for purchase mainly by the Romanian community who lived in the vicinity of the store. The store had been trading for 18 months and was a family business.

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

·         There was no CCTV camera sited outside of the store following the previous camera being removed following the installation of metal shutters on the storefront. There were 6 cameras in the store and one in the store room. The applicant agreed to the addition of a condition requiring the installation of a CCTV camera outside the store.

·         This application had come about following the requests from customers for alcoholic drinks of Romanian origin.

·         The applicant confirmed that the application followed the current opening hours of the store.

·         It was explained that the front of the store had two large windows with the entrance door in the middle. There was no visual access from the outside of the store to the inside as large pictures of fruit and vegetable renders the windows obscure.

·         The counter and the till was situated to the right of the entrance door and alcohol was stored behind the counter.

·         The applicant agreed to the addition of a condition prohibiting the advertising of alcohol of the storefront windows.

The objector addressed the Panel and explained his objection to the application. His was a family business which had traded for over 20 years. Over that time he had noticed an influx of off-licenses come to the area which had bought issues related to the consumption of alcohol and had increased the stresses to the police, the local authority and the emergency services. He noted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.