Agenda item

Application for the grant of a premises licence for Off Licence 223 Dewsbury Road Hunslet Leeds LS11 5HZ

To consider the report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory on an application for the grant of a premises licence for Off Licence 223 Dewsbury Road Hunslet Leeds LS11 5HZ

 

(Report attached)

Minutes:

The report of the of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory set out an application for the grant of a premises licence, made by Mr Ahmad Ibrahim, for 223 Dewsbury Road, Hunslet, Leeds, LS11 5HZ.

 

The application had attracted representations from other persons and responsible authorities.

 

It was noted that representations had been received from West Yorkshire Police, Environmental Health and Ward Councillors. It was acknowledged that after negotiations with West Yorkshire Police agreements had been made, subsequently their representation had been withdrawn

 

This was the first application for a premises licence for these premises, the application was for the sale of alcohol 24 hours a day (off sales only)

 

Present at the hearing were;

·  Mr Niyaz Raof – Re-Group representing Mr Ahmad Ibrahim who had not been able to attend

·  Cllr. Paul Wray ward member for Hunslet and Riverside

·  Jessica Deighton and Gary Mann – Officers of Environmental Health Team

 

Mr Raof provided the sub-committee with the following information:

·  The premises previously been a barbers shop;

·  Mr Ibrahim had got a personal licence in 2009;

·  Mr Ibrahim had a shop in Harehills which sold alcohol there had been no issues at this shop;

·  Mr Ibrahim was proposing the following to promote the licensing objectives:

o  Regular staff training sessions;

o  Adequate lighting both inside and outside the premises;

o  CCTV with recording facility up to 30 days which would be available on request from responsible authorities;

o  Public notices to request that customers respect neighbours;

o  Log of anti-social behaviour and a refusals log;

o  Noise would be monitored;

o  Outside the premises would be kept clean;

o  Contract for refuse collection;

o  Passport or ID cards would be requested to ascertain age;

·  The proposed hatch system shuttered would not be opened or lowered during the time period of 11:00pm – 07:00am in consideration to neighbouring properties;

·  There would be CCTV over the opening of the hatch;

·  There was one other premises with a 24 hour licence which was half a mile down the road.

 

In response to questions from the Members the sub-committee heard:

·  The DPS would operate the premises and the hatch in the proper manner adhering to the licensing policy. There would be no access to the shop during the period that the hatch system was in operation.

·  Staff would be trained to ask customers to respect neighbours and leave the premises quietly

·  Researched had shown that people who would use this 24 hour store would mainly be Eastern European who worked shifts.

 

Cllr. Wray addressed the sub–committee saying that this was a disregard to the rules as the area was a densely populated residential area with local schools nearby. Members heard that this area had alcohol and drugs related issues.

 

Cllr. Wray said that he had visited a school in the area recently and asked the children what they would like to do to improve the area. The children had told him that noise was a concern for them as they were unable to sleep therefore they could not concentrate on their lessons.

 

Cllr. Wray had concerns that the DPS would not be able to control the level of noise made by his customers. He went on to say that this was not an appropriate application given the sensitivity of the area.

 

He also brought to the attention of the Licensing sub-committee that the Police had also requested the restriction of licensing hours. He informed the Members that there were three other licensed premises within the area, all closing at 11:00pm. Cllr. Wray said that he was not opposed to the licence but was opposed to the hours applied in relation to noise nuisance in this sensitive community.

 

The Environmental Health Officer addressed the sub-committee advising them that Environmental Health were not opposed to the licence of the premises, only to the hours applied for due to noise nuisance which would be from the customers using the hatch system.

 

The sub-committee were advised of implications of opening a 24 hour licensed premises at this location as follows:

·  Noise arising from voices within the premises from both customers and staff

·  Noise arising from general use of shop such as bangs from moving boxes/stocking shelves

·  Noise arising from customers who may already be intoxicated using the premises

·  Noise arising from people loitering outside, increased footfall in to the area at sensitive hours. However it was noted that there are limitations as to how this can be controlled.

·  Noise arising from increased vehicles such as doors banging, car radios, and people talking. It was noted that the premises do not have parking facilities and that parking would be outside of the residential properties.

·  Residential premises above the shop and neighbouring businesses.

·  Noise from plant and machinery such as condenser units for refrigeration

 

It was acknowledged that no noise report had been done to assess the impact of noise from staff and patrons impacting on occupiers of residential premises during sensitive hours.

 

Mr Raof in response said:

·  No residents had made objections to the application.

·  The refrigeration unit would omit low level noise

·  Need to acknowledge the Home Office definition for granting a premises licence.

·  There was an off licence only half a mile away with a 24 hour licence.

·  The premises above the shop were for storage purposes only, the premises to one side was a solicitors, the premises to the other side had been a pharmacy but was currently empty and the applicant had not been able to discover if the premises above were occupied.

·  West Yorkshire Police had agreed to the store being closed to the public during use of the hatch system.

 

Members carefully considered all the information provided including the agreed conditions set out at pages 585 and 597 of the agenda pack.

 

RESOLVED – To grant the premises licence to include the agreed conditions of West Yorkshire Police and Environmental Health as set out in the submitted agenda. However, they did not grant the hours as sought but to grant a premises licence for the sale of alcohol between 7:00am and midnight each day.

 

 

 

 

 

Supporting documents: