Store says petition against off-licence application ‘part of political campaign’

A petition against the granting of an alcohol licence to a Great Barr post office is part of a ‘political campaign’, it has been claimed.

And there are no legitimate reasons to deny the Thornbridge Avenue Post Office an alcohol licence, a representative for the shop has argued, despite the application receiving several objections.

The post office, located on Thornbridge Avenue in Great Barr, is applying for the grant of an alcohol licence to operate from 7am to 11pm Monday to Sunday, with a hearing held in front of the council’s licensing committee on May 4.

The initial application received several letters of objections from local residents concerned about the potential impact another alcohol licence in the area could have, with fears over the proliferation of anti-social behaviour and littering.

And a petition against the proposals was also submitted as part of the evidence, with signees voicing their concerns.

Speaking during the hearing, a spokesperson for the owner of the shop argued that there were no legitimate objections to the licence, pointing to the fact that other shops in the area also have alcohol licences that have not caused issues.

And he also took exception to the petition which had been submitted, which seems to have been attached to a leaflet for a local Conservative campaigner, Darius Sandhu, with questions also asking signees which party they supported and whether they could assist with supporting Sandhu by handing out leaflets.

“What this petition, as it’s titled, does, is go beyond simply being a petition and I think it is fair to describe it as part of a political campaign,” a representative for the post office said.

“And we see the questions 2, 3 and 4 that were asked all relate to support for the candidate in the local election, and we’ve not been provided with what the answers to those questions were, so it’s not clear to us on the basis of which those making representations via this petition are doing so purely as a representation of the petition, or also supporting this candidate more generally in the local campaign.”

Speaking at the meeting, Sandhu said that his objections were based purely on his desire to stop the proliferation of premises selling alcohol in the area, with two convenience stores and a pub also situated along the same street.