Agenda and minutes

The three Councillors that presided over this item were Councillors P Smith, A Mitchell and P Keska. The Chairman welcomed the participants and requested that they introduce themselves to the Sub-Committee. In attendance on behalf of the application were Anne-Marie Taylor, the applicant’s solicitor and Pauline Tait, the Area Manager. There were no other people present. The Chairman then introduced the Members and Officers present, and outlined the procedure that would be followed for the determination of the application.

The Application before the Sub-Committee

The Legal Officer informed the Sub-Committee that a variation of a premises licence for Martins the Newsagents, 273-277 High Street, Epping had been received along with representations from interested parties. The variation had requested permission to:

·                     To supply alcohol from 06:00 to 22:00 Monday to Sunday.

Following receipt of the application, the Council had received representations from:

·                     Essex Police;

·                     One representations from local residents;

·                     Essex County Fire & Rescue Service;

·                     Children’s Safeguarding Service; and

·                     Essex County Council Trading Standards.

Presentation of the Applicant’s Case

Ms Taylor advised the Sub-Committee that the applicant wished to extended their opening hours and accordingly the licensing hours to 22:00 Monday to Sunday. The store already had a premises license granted in 2007 and so all the relevant conditions were already in place. In relation to the application the applicant had approached the police and no concerns had been raised.

The applicant had upgraded their ‘Challenge 21’ policy to ‘Challenge 25’ and had CCTV in the store. Employees selling alcohol were prompted by the tills to ID the person purchasing alcohol and to record the information taken, whether that was a sale, required ID or a refusal. If ID or a refusal were made then the employee would have to record the ID used or a description of the person trying to the purchase the alcohol would be made on the tills. All staff were required to be trained a minimum of three times a year and if the Area Manager felt that certain periods of the year were more likely for purchases of alcohol, she would advise the stores. The applicant also employed an external company to complete test purchases through the year, which if failed could result in dismissal to the member of staff, therefore reinforcing the importance to the employee. The previous application also conditioned that two members of staff were also required.

Ms Taylor advised that to date the store had received no complaints and the objections received were not supported with any evidence.

Questions for the Applicant from the Sub-Committee

Councillor Keska asked how long the CCTV was kept. Mrs Tait advised that it was held for 60 days and sent directly to head office. The store could only copy a recording with the authority of head office, although stills could be printed off the recordings.

Councillor Mitchell enquired about the training of staff. Mrs Tait advised that as a minimum staff would be trained three times a year.

Councillor Smith enquired about the refusal log and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72.