Yahoo News Council boss's concern at alcohol plans near primary school
The leader of Liverpool Council has expressed concerns at an off licence potentially opening in a “crime and anti-social behaviour hotspot.”
An application has been made to the city council’s licensing team for a premises licence to sell alcohol at Paco Market on Prescot Road, Fairfield. The business seeks to trade from 8am to 11pm daily, selling alcohol throughout.
This has sparked concern for Cllr Liam Robinson and his ward colleagues in Kensington and Fairfield, who have expressed issues about prevention of crime.
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The business seeks to operate as a convenience store with alcohol sales supplementing its trade. In a written representation, Cllr Robinson, alongside ward members Cllrs Liz Parsons and Wendy Simon, said they wanted answers over the plans.
They said: “The location is a crime and anti-social behaviour hotspot with crime issues we have concerns that the premises could only add to these issues and it is not clear from the application how these issues would be prevented. The area also suffers from real issues with litter and again it is not clear how the application will prevent any further issues of this nature.”
The application is now subject of a licensing and gambling sub-committee meeting to make a final decision on the proposals. It will be held at Liverpool Town Hall on May 14.
In their representation to the body, the Labour councillors also raised issues about potential alcohol sales impacting children. They wrote: “The location is situated close to a primary school main walking route between a number of primary schools and the local secondary school.
“It is not clear how the application will ensure no children are exposed to the negative impact of alcohol in the area.” The members indicated they objected to the application being rejected but put forward a series of issues for consideration if it went ahead.
This included the barring of single can sales and minimum size bottle sale restrictions, all products to be labelled with identification tags, no products to be sold above 4.5% abv, voluntary pricing structuring, assistance with street cleaning and a reduction of hours from 8am to 9am.
The proposals will now go before a panel of councillors later this month.
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