Following an initial call yesterday, today we got to speak to the licensing department at the council about the granting of the alcohol license to SLV (ex-TC) News. Below is what we learned, which could be of use if anyone wants to raise objections to future applications.
There are only four areas of objection that are taken into consideration as legitimate concerns for license applications
- The prevention of crime and disorder
- Public safety
- Public nuisance
- Protecting children from harm
Other objections such as, there are too many places in town sell drink already, do not count. Five of the objections to the SVL News alcohol license that were received by the council, fell in this category.
SLV News already operates two other shops with alcohol licenses in Southampton, a fact that went in their favour.
Quite a number of conditions have been placed on SLV News (which will be detailed when the meeting notes get published, hopefully by the end of the week), these include CCTV; training staff in under-age sales (preventing them we assume); only selling to people aged 21+; holding wines and spirits behind the counter (beer will be in fridges in the shop).
If people feel that alcohol is incorrectly being sold, they can apply to the council for the license to be reviewed. If the shop is found to be breaking the rules, the license can be removed. The council frequently carries out under-age test purchases.
Objections about the use of Spring Gardens as a drinking area are not considered as these are dealt with under the Criminal Justice and Police Act – if a problem occurs.
What’s most confusing about this is situation? We have a Government that is regularly informs us that they’re concerned by the level of alcohol consumption, but they’ve made licensing laws more liberal.
