Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest, identified in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine: whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Members are also reminded to declare the nature of the interest at the earliest opportunity and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it is the Members’ responsibility to identify any interests and also update their register of interest form as required by the Code.

If in doubt as to the nature of an interest, you are advised to seek advice prior the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services.

There were no declarations of interest made.

The rules of procedure were noted.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the Licensing Sub-Committee held on 8^th and 22^nd February 2022.

The minutes of the meetings held on 8^th and 22^nd February were agreed and approved as a correct record.

At the request of the Chair, Ms Corinne Holland, Licensing Officer, introduced the report which detailed the application for a new premises licence for Organic Grocery Store, 284 – 286 Poplar High Street, London E14 0BB. It was noted that an objection had been received from a local resident, in relation to the prevention of public nuisance.

At the request of the Chair, Mr Suleyman Solak, the Applicant explained the premises was operated by a new business, a convenience store, looking to sell organic fruit and vegetables, alcohol, and household products. Mr Solak said the premises had taken all the necessary precautions to ensure the licensing objectives would be upheld. Public notices advertising the Challenge 25 policy have been placed in the premises and CCTV had been installed. Mr Solak said his staff had been trained not to sell alcohol to those who were drunk or those who would cause anti-social behaviour. He said there would be no drinks promotions and they would fully cooperate with the responsible authorities.

Members then heard from the Objector, Ms Laura Spenceley, who said she lived directly above the premises. She said she already felt threatened by the anti-social behaviour of teenagers in the vicinity and felt unsafe when passing by them.  Ms Spenceley said she was concerned about the late opening of the premises and the sale of alcohol until 23:00 hours.

In response to questions the following was noted;

–      The objector was advised to speak to her landlord about the sale of the flats above the commercial property and her claim that the flats were sold on the premise that an alcohol led business would not be occupying the commercial space. It was made clear to the objector this was outside the remit of the Licensing Sub-Committee and therefore this could not be given consideration.

–      The Applicant confirmed he had tried to meet with Ms Spenceley and had sent her two emails requesting a meeting. Ms Spenceley confirmed the Applicant had been in touch.

–      The Applicant clarified the alcohol was not the core element of the business and said this would only make up 20 – 30% of the overall business revenue.

–      The Applicant confirmed that he would be happy to reduce the sale of alcohol hours to the Council’s framework hours. The Objector agreed to this and said she did not object to the business, but was concerned about the selling of alcohol so late in the evening in light of existing local anti-social behaviour that she had experienced.

Concluding remarks were made by both parties.

The Licensing Objectives

In considering the application, Members were required to consider the same in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003 (as amended), the Licensing Objectives, the Home Office Guidance and the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy and in particular to have regard to the promotion of the four licensing objectives:

1. The Prevention of Crime and Disorder;
2. Public Safety;
3. The Prevention of Public Nuisance; and
4. The Protection of Children  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.1

The objector having withdrawn her objection shortly before the meeting, this application was granted.

At the request of the Chair, Ms Corinne Holland, Licensing Officer, introduced the report which detailed the application for a review of the premises licence for Parnell Mini-Market, 177a Parnell Road, London E3 2RT. It was noted that the review had been brought by Trading Standards and was based on the licensing objective of protection of children from harm.

At the request of the Chair, Mr Alex Brander, Trading Standards Officer, explained the grounds for the review and said that following a complaint from a concerned parent on the 1^st December 2021, a test purchase was undertaken by two police cadets on the 13^th December 2021. The cadets were sold a can of larger, with no proof of age being asked for by the cashier. During the investigation, Mr MD Al Mamunul Huq, the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS), provided additional information and stated that the cashier did not believe the female cadet was underage and therefore allowed the sale.

Mr Brander said when Mr Huq, when questioned by Trading Standards at the interview on the 20^th January 2022, he did not fully comprehend what a sale by proxy was or how to apply the Challenge 25 policy. Mr Brander said this was equally true for the members of staff employed by Mr Huq. He said the signage within the premises was obscure and did not meet with licensing requirements.

Furthermore, Mr Brander said Mr Huq could not explain the entries that had been retrospectively added to the training log. Mr Brander said that as part of a separate investigation into the sale of tobacco to underage children, the Trading Standards Tobacco Enforcement Officer, had visited the premises on the 12^th November 2021. The Enforcement Officer had taken a photograph of the log, in which three entries existed, dated 08/03/21, 10/03/21 and 07/09/21. However, after that visit, Mr Huq had provided a copy of the training log to Trading Standards, at which point Trading Standards noted that further entries had been made to the training log predating the above visit, which had not been in that log at the time of that visit, namely entries dated 17/10/21, 24/10/21, and 15/11/21. Mr Brander said Mr Huq had been unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for this and admitted he had made entries in the log.

Mr Brander continued that Trading Standards were concerned about the lack of leadership at the premises and the consistent disregard for the licensing objectives. Mr Brander informed the Sub-Committee that the premises and the DPS had previously been fined £440 each due to selling cigarettes to underage children, on the 8^th March 2020 and 29^th July 2021. Mr Brander said he was alarmed at the text messages Mr Huq had sent staff, following the incident of 29^th July, whereby he appeared to warn staff to be careful of test purchasers rather than focusing staff on upholding the licensing objectives.

PC Mark Perry, from the Metropolitan Police concurred with Mr Brander  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.3

The Sub Committee may be requested to extend the decision deadline for applications to be considered at forthcoming meetings due to the volume of applications requiring a hearing.  Where necessary, details will be provided at the meeting.

Extension of deadline: Licensing Act 2003

Members agreed to extend the decision deadlines for the applications below to the dates stated; Licensing applications were extended due to the impact of the pandemic, and were adjourned under regulation 11 of the Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005, it was in the public interest to do so, and did not require representation from parties to the applications.