To appoint a Chairman for the duration of the meeting.

Councillor Alexander proposed Councillor Bicknell to be Chairman for the Panel. This was seconded by Councillor Wilson.

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence received.

To receive any declarations of interest.

No Declarations of Interest were received.

To note the procedural details for the hearing.

The procedures were noted by all.

To consider an application for a new premises licence under The Licensing Act 2003 for Costcutter, 113-117 Springfield Road, Windsor, SL4 3PZ.

Licensing Officer

The Licensing Officer, Steve Smith, introduced the application for Members to consider. The Licensing Officer explained that the application related to a new premises license. The Licensing Officer informed the Panel that this was a brand new application for a premises licence with the standard opening hours of the premises from 6am to 11pm, Monday to Sunday and to permit the sale by retail of alcohol for consumption off the premises from 6am to 11 pm, Monday to Sunday. The application was outside of the current framework hours within the RBWM licensing policy.

The Licensing Officer had received no relevant representations from any of the responsible authorities except the Trading Standards who requested a number of conditions relating to one of four key objectives, prevention of children from harm. There had been twelve representations from local residents, a petition had been signed by 138 local residents and two representations had been made by the local Ward Councillors. All the representations were available in the Agenda pack.

The Licensing Officer informed the Panel that Mrs Charul Patel was the owner of the premises and the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS). The premises was situated at 113 – 117 Springfield Road, Windsor.

The Licensing Officer reminded the Panel that they should have consideration for the four licensing objectives when making their decision on whether to grant the new premises licence, modifying the conditions of the licence by altering or omitting or adding to them, or to reject the application.

Questions to the Licensing Officer

Councillor Bicknell asked the Licensing Officer why this application had come to a Panel and was informed that a large number of requests had been received for this application but the applicant had still wanted to go ahead so it was best bought to Panel.

Applicant’s Case

The Applicant’s representative, Jill Sherratt, informed the Panel that the premises was for a Costcutter franchise in a large premises. This wanted to be a local store that had also been granted a post office after three months which would be a great asset to the local area. The store would have a Costa Coffee machine, ready to eat food and all groceries.

The premises owner, Mrs Charul Patel, had been in the same business for over ten years, six years at a store in Croydon, London and since 2015, at another Costcutter which had an off licence and there had never been any issues. This premises had been bought freehold and it had received support from Costcutter too. A lot of investment had been made.

The premises owner was going to be having the following points at the premises:

·         CCTV with digital viewing. 12 cameras offering monitoring inside the store, to the back and the front of the store.

·         Till prompts to restrict staff making mistakes.

·         Separate refusal register.

·         Challenge 25 scheme.

·         Continual staff training.

·         Backing from Costcutter and licensing.

The premises owner/DPS would be at the store at all times, her husband would be at the store when  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.