'Virtual meeting' to decide on alcohol licence for shop in Sunderland's former Joplings building delayed

Sunderland City Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee were due to decide on a new premises licence for Jopling Stores.

The business is based in the ground floor of student accommodation development Jopling House, off John Street.

According to licensing documents, the store has been selling non-alcohol products since early February.

Under new plans, applicant Ladykirk Investments Ltd applied for permission to sell alcohol products between 10am-8pm, Monday to Saturday and 10am -5pm on Sunday.

Agenda papers for the hearing also outlined measures that would be taken by the applicant to uphold the council’s licensing objectives.

This ranged from CCTV, staff training around proxy sales and a ‘Challenge 25’ policy to employing a door supervisor, operating a refusals register and limiting the types of alcohol sold.

During consultation, no objections were received from Northumbria Police or other responsible authorities.

However, two petitions containing a combined total of nearly 40 signatures were submitted raising concerns about antisocial behaviour and alcohol-related crime.

A meeting to decide the application was originally listed on the council’s website for April 20 as a ‘remote meeting’ to be conducted through a conference call.

This week, the meeting was cancelled with a decision expected to be made at a later date.

Earlier in April, the Government removed requirements for physical attendance at local authority meetings to ensure “effective and transparent” decision making during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Although it will be up to individual councils to decide how voting and debate will take place, they have been told to make sure virtual meetings are also accessible to the public.

Sunderland City Council held some meetings with social distancing measures in place early on in the outbreak, including a full council meeting with a reduced number of councillors to allow members to sit spread out in the council chamber.

Councillors voted through emergency powers for the chief executive, Patrick Melia, to help keep the authority running as smoothly as possible through the crisis.