Anti-social behaviour concerns raised at Peterborough's Fletton Quays as shop applies for licence to sell alcohol

Peterborough City Council has been asked not to grant a licence for a convenience store at Fletton Quays to sell alcohol due to concerns about anti-social behaviour.

In December, Julia Premier Ltd applied for a licence to sell alcohol at its store along the Nene Promenade and that application is set to be decided by councillor’s on the Licencing Act Sub-Committee next month (February 3).

If granted, the store would sell alcohol during its opening hours of 7am to 11pm, Monday to Sunday. The store has said it will install a full-colour CCTV system and keep comprehensive logs of refused sales, however, a complaint against the application has been received from nearby residents.

The complaint states: “Anti-social behaviour and public drinking is already an ongoing issue around the area. People from the public are coming to the gardens of the building, drinking and doing things they shouldn't be, leaving rubbish everywhere and then gaining access to the building and breaking doors or acting like the building is a public access way.

"There are already cases of public drinking and people smoking drugs and doing illegal things around the area. This will likely aggravate the situation by letting people purchase alcohol and take it away to sit in the communal gardens of Fletton Quays and the surrounding area to drink at any time of day and night potentially causing nuisance, noise and anti-social behaviour for us residents.”

The complaint also raised concerns about residents being left liable for any damage done to the surrounding area through their service charge. The area is managed privately and concerns were also voiced about the fact that cleaning costs have gone up recently due to what the complaint describes as non-residents walking by and not using the bins provided.

The complaint adds: “I fear it will make the area a lot more unsafe and unpleasant and bring a lot more unwanted people and attention/easy targets as this is not patrolled by police or any CCTV.

"This is a residential area and we residents want to keep it a nice, clean and public/family-friendly area. I fear that I will not be able to

sit in the public areas or even in my own patio, which faces the gardens at Fletton Quays, due to the fear of being approached or targetted by someone being drunk or causing anti-social behaviour.

"The public being able to buy and potentially sit and drink until the late hours every day without police patrolling and police support will aggravate the situation and make residents themselves not feel welcome and unsafe, people hearing drunk people at all hours of the day and night.”

The store’s application will now be considered by the committee. The complaint can be viewed in full on the city council’s website. Documents relating to the decision and the crime and anti-social behaviour mitigation put forward by the store can also be viewed on the council website.