Panel rejects licence
Residents have won their battle against a Rastrick shop and takeaway that wanted to sell alcohol 24 hours a day.
Calderdale councillors refused the application for a 24-hour licence by the Premier Convenience Store and Curry Chef takeaway in Highfield Road, on the Field Lane estate.
A total of 29 letters of objection were received from concerned residents and voiced their views at the licensing sub committee.
At the meeting, Jennifer Binns said: “I speak as a mother and grandmother and I’ve lived on the Field Lane estate 42 years and I know Mr Ismail, I’ve got respect for him, but 24-hour drinking will lead to kids getting hold of alcohol day and night.”
Another resident, Kevin Holgate said: “We don’t want to stop anyone earning a living but we want to keep the community as safe as possible as decent as possible.”
The police had also backed pleas to reject the licence after they confirmed they had received 25 calls to the premises in the past three months.
Many were nuisance calls but there were also reports of thefts and criminal damage.
Business owners Muhammad Ismail and Mohammed Rafique, represented by a solicitor, alleged the calls were being made by a rival store.
In the report by the Neighbourhood Policing team in Brighouse, it said: “An investigation into the number of calls from these premises was conducted and it became apparent that one of the business owners in the area has allegedly been asking youths to cause anti social behaviour issues at both stores in return they were offered free goods from this particular business.
“It is hard to establish how many calls are linked to the business or have been caused by the business but since the issue has been dealt with by police the calls seem to have temporarily stopped coming from staff at the Premier and the Curry chef.”
Mr Ismail and Mr Rafique proposed a delivery service would be created where they were expecting to make 40 deliveries a night.
They also said that staff training would be conducted and for a under 25 policy implemented as well as CCTV installed to discourage anti social behaviour.
Chair of the committee Simon Young said: “There is a strong feeling in the community made by the representations and some speculative issues of what might happen in the future.
“It is clear that noise nuisance will at the very least be caused if we do allow the application to be granted.
“Crime and disorder is a real concern in this case as well.”
The owner has the right of appeal to the magistrates’ court within 21 days.
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Thursday 23 May 2013
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