Agenda and minutes

Councillor Angelo Weekes welcomed everyone to the meeting and officers and members introduced themselves.  The procedure for the conduct of the meeting was outlined.

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of substitute members.

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a) Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b) Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f) Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

The order of business would be as the agenda.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2023 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

The licensing officer stated that there was no additional information to report.

The police reported that the applicant was seeking to vary condition 21. He was concerned that this condition had already been weakened and he considered that any further loosening of this condition would have a detrimental effect on the area. There were issues in the area such as street drinking and anti-social behaviour which made the area challenging.

In response to questions, it was noted that street drinking was commonplace in Elthorne Park. Holly Park estate also had hostels for vulnerable people and this area was one of the first areas to pilot Reducing the Strength drinking as it was known as a hot spot. He had sought to clarify the price point and stated that the applicant had said that the alcohol would be bought at a unit cost to them of 75 pence.

The licensing agent stated that this was a small convenience store and a small change to a condition was requested to allow a greater number of products to be sold. It was proposed that alcohol would be sold at a price of 75 pence per unit. The number of units in a product would be multiplied by 0.75 in order to be able to be sold. Many shops did not have this condition.

In response to questions, the applicant’s agent stated that the applicant wished to sell a wider range of products. Alcohol could then be sold but at a higher price point eg a 2.5l bottle of Frosty Jacks contained 18.8 units and could therefore not be sold for less than £14. The unit referred to in the condition was one unit of alcohol. The police had been consulted but did not agree with the condition, so the applicant had made a full application to go to the Sub-Committee. There had been no issues with this premises. The premises was already selling high strength alcohol and other shops in the area were selling high strength alcohol.

The Sub-Committee raised concerns regarding the 3am licence and it was stated that local supermarkets were only open until 1am. The licensing agent stated that if the shop sold whisky the Sub-Committee would not have these same concerns. He advised that shops in the local area already sold alcohol. Customers could buy alcohol locally in the Finsbury Park area and the licensing agent advised that they could condition to not serve this alcohol after midnight. 

In summary, the police stated that even though the price point had been clarified this had not dissuaded them from their objection.

The licensing agent stated that the licensing objectives would be promoted by the minimum unit price and the high price of strong alcohol would dissuade street drinkers.

RESOLVED

That the application for a new premises licence, in respect of Budget Supermarket, 18-20 Crouch Hill, N4 4AU be refused.

REASONS FOR DECISION

The Sub-Committee listened to all the evidence and submissions and read all the material. The Sub-Committee reached the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70.