The Sub-Committee will elect a Chairman for the meeting.

It was moved by Councillor Davidson, seconded by Councillor Casey and:-

RESOLVED that Councillor A Cossens be elected as Chairman for the meeting.

The Committee is asked to note any apologies for absence and substitutions received from Members.

There were no apologies for absence submitted nor substitutions made on this occasion.

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee, held on Friday, 23 January 2026.

It was moved by Councillor Davidson, seconded by Councillor Casey and:-

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Sub-Committee held on Friday, 23 January 2026, be approved as a correct record and be signed by the Chairman.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Other Registerable Interests of Non-Registerable Interests, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

There were no Declarations of Interest made by Members on this occasion.  

The application is made under the Licensing Act 2003 for the variation of a Premises Licence to request an increase of the opening hours and the sale of alcohol throughout the week.

The Chairman adjourned the meeting at this juncture so they could be shown, in private, CCTV footage submitted by the Objector that showed alleged breaches of licence conditions and/or statutory provisions. That CCTV footage was also shown separately, in private, to the Applicant’s representatives. Following that adjournment, the meeting resumed and proceeded as detailed below.

Upon resuming the meeting, the Litigation Lawyer (Sarah Opene) read out the following statement:

“Unfortunately, there is no standby Member available for this meeting which is a requirement of the Council's Constitution. However, there is no statutory requirement for a fourth standby Member to be present. The Licensing Act 2003 mandates that such applications as are on today's agenda must be considered by three Councillors. We have three Councillors present and it is therefore my advice, if you concur, that this Hearing goes ahead. Do you agree?"

The Chairman of the Sub-Committee, the Sub-Committee Members, the Applicant’s representatives and the Objector and his agent, all agreed to proceed with the hearing. In addition, Steve Bennett, Essex Police Licensing Officer, and witnesses for the objector, Crysta Goldsmith and Jason Barrett, were present at the meeting.

The Sub-Committee heard that the application had been made under the Licensing Act 2003 for the variation of a Premises Licence to request an increase of the opening hours and the sale of alcohol throughout the week.

It was reported that the premises had previously been described as an off licence and convenience store.

The current opening hours for the premises were as follows:

Monday to Sunday                  09:00 – 23:00

The current licensable activities for the premises were as follows:

Sale of Alcohol off the premises

Monday to Sunday                  09:00 – 23:00

The proposed opening hours were outlined as follows:

Monday to Sunday                  09:00 – 02:00

Therefore, the proposed licensable activities to be varied were as follows:

Sale of Alcohol off the premises

Monday to Sunday                  09:00 – 02:00

It was reported that following discussions between the applicant and Essex Police (as a Responsible Authority), the applicant had agreed to reduce the proposed opening hours and the proposed sale of alcohol off the premises licensable activity to the following days/hours:

Revised Opening Hours

Sunday to Thursday               06:00 – 00:00

Friday to Saturday                  06:00 – 01:00

Revised Sale of Alcohol Off the Premises Hours

Sunday to Thursday               06:00 – 00:00

Friday to Saturday                  06:00 – 01:00

The Sub-Committee was informed that the variation application and the applicant’s confirmation to reduce the proposed hours were attached to the report (A.1) as Appendix A and the current premises licence was attached to the report (A.1) as Appendix B.

The applicant’s representatives, Ali Hamza & Emma McDonaghue, addressed the Sub?Committee in support of the application, outlining the perceived community need for a late?night off?licence. They stated that residents currently had to travel to Clacton to purchase goods after 11pm.