Transcript

Good afternoon and welcome to the licensing subcommittee meeting. My name is Councillor Sabina Akhtar and I will be chairing today's licensing subcommittee. This meeting is being held in person. Committee members and key participants are present in the meeting room and there may be some joining remotely online today. I believe the applicants themselves are. So filming in the meeting, this meeting is being filmed for the council's website for public viewing. I would remind members at the meeting to only speak on my direction and just click clearly into the microphones to ensure that their contributions can be properly recorded. Can members and officers please introduce one of the licensing officers presenting this evening? Simi Azmin, Democratic Services. Jonathan Melnick, Legal Services. I'm Sraq Ahmed, Petanagin West. Councillor Farroog Ahmed. Okay, thank you members. Simi, do we have any apologies? No chair, no apologies for absence. Okay, do members have any declaration of disclosable peculiar interests? No chair, I don't. Thank you. Nor do I. Okay, thank you. can members please note the rules of procedure it's been noted and agreed and agree the minutes of the meetings held on the 4th february 2025 on pages 19 to 30 okay i'm fine okay so moving on to the agenda so we have an application for a new premises license for demi shop five penny fields london e14 8 hp simi to announce those in attendance thank you chair for this application we have the applicant and present who's joining us virtually who's mr valdemir chionari i hope i've got that right as for the objectors no objectors are requested to speak at the meeting therefore their written objection included in the agenda pack will be noted and considered by members of the subcommittee and after the application has been presented and the applicant will be invited to speak and please note that the subcommittee have read the agenda pack in advance thank you chair thank you can i ask kathy report thank you thank you chair uh the application is for demir shop at five penny fields which is london e14 the application is for the sale of alcohol and it's off sales only for so essentially no consumption on the premises and the hours for the sale of alcohol and the opening times there has been representations made uh by councillor james king including business and residents that have completed a petition in terms of the application the conditions that have been offered by the applicant as part of their application and obviously for members to consider conditions should a license be granted uh they're at point seven of the report on page 34 which conditions one to sixteen um there's an additional uh condition agreed uh with police also in point eight um numbered one to three um details of the layout is at page 68 um in terms of the layout the actual premises uh location and photos are at 70 and 72 there are a list of premises that have already licensed in that vicinity and they're listed at page 75 the applicant has provided uh in the supplementary agenda um comments in response to to the objections and application for members attention uh in terms of um obviously the application there there has been no historical temporary event notices in terms of the premises thank you thank you very much okay do any members have any questions for the licensing officer yes just quickly two things um um the object is um there are a number of signatures and uh what i've noticed that um uh the signature is someone and also why um um and obviously essentially somebody else so is that from a shopkeeper or is it someone who is a um local resident mr t i can't pronounce that what is that how do you pronounce it counselor that's probably more of a question for me can you yes i was going to ask is it can i ask no it would be for me but if you can point me to the pages you're looking at please please in the meantime when you look on this which pages are you looking at or just just maybe for page 85 oh right so do you mean for example it's got mr p nichols it looks like and then at the bottom t censor and yes right i think what you'll find is that the person who has signed is mr or miss nichols there's no reason to think that what what we what's happened is that these documents have all been produced by mr center and who's the um local business who's raised the objections so in a way they're kind of supplementing his representation that's presumably but if you look at his rep as well it pretty much mirrors that so he's obviously has left his name in but it's not doesn't suggest that there's anything improper there in my view okay thank you for clearing that up thank you any other members wish to ask i don't have anything for now um perhaps later thank you can i now ask the applicant to present the application unmute yourself i think you might see you but we can't hear you yeah maybe perhaps unmute yourself it's unmuted we can't hear you sorry we can't hear you do you want to um log off and try join rejoin and i'll let you in yeah okay hello hello do you want to speak so we can hear if we can see you can you hear us but we can't hear you is that muted yeah it's not muted so we can't hear you we can see you but we can't seem to hear you do you think simi is anything from our side we still can't hear you can you check your speakers or your mic yeah can you check your mic scope oh sorry your microphone no we can't hear you which will act as both a deterrent and available resource for law enforcement he's going to also strictly enforce a challenge 25 policy ensuring that alcohol is never sold to you underage individuals or those attempting proxy purchases and and the staff will also be trained to refuse service to intoxicated or disorderly individuals ensuring that alcohol sales do not contribute to antisocial behavior they're also going to operate a no loitering policy with clear signage discouraging gatherings outside the premises crime prevention is a shared responsibility and we will work closely with the local police and the licensing authority to report and prevent any issues it has also been suggested that the premises may cause safety risks due to overcrowding however we would like to clarify that our store is a small grocery shop not a venue for large gatherings they will link a number of customers in the store to a maximum of 10 at a time ensuring a safe and controlled environment the staff will be trained to manage the flow to prevent congestion both inside and outside the premises and the store layout has also been carefully designed to allow to allow clear and safe movement and we have considered fire safety regulations in the planning public safety is of utmost importance to us and we have taken every step to ensure that the shop operates smoothly without creating risks risks for customers or the wider community we fully understand that the concerns regarding potential public nuisance including noise littering and disturbance however we have taken proactive steps to prevent any negative impact on the community we will only operate between 8 a.m and 10 p.m ensuring that we do not um just give me one moment to check okay um we believe that the mission will not operate within the licensing objectives but will also be yeah um some concerns have been raised also regarding the potential impact on other local businesses and while we respect the existing businesses we believe the competition is not a valid reason for rejecting the license under the licensing act 2003 and the metro is a grocery store not just an off license so the primary focus is on serving uh the daily needs of local residents with essential goods not just alcohol we will enhance the area rather than harming it offering residents more choice while adhering to high compliance standards um we are also um going to protect the children from harm ensuring the safety and well-being of children in the community is a top priority for us we are committed to preventing any potential harm by strictly enforcing the challenge 25 policy training our staff to recognize and prevent the proxy sales and uh will prevent life bring outside the story ensuring that our practices remain a family friendly environment um i believe we have covered all the concerns but let us know in case you do have any okay um so there are no objections present so i would move on to members questions so the applicant what are they seeking for um from 8 30 in the morning till 10 p.m okay that's all around for that thank you so the applicant i don't know if they want to respond or so we've got another application um in the agenda pack for a new premises license for popular union to cartel street london e1460l however this item was resolved prior to the meeting and therefore does not require any consideration from us in from this meeting um see me to announce any extensions there are no um applications to extend all right thank you so thank you so thank you so thank you for your contributions today this meeting is now closed thank you thank you thank you thank you