MANCHESTER Road residents who objected to an eighth off-licence in their neighbourhood were angered to discover councillors granted it without giving them an opportunity to speak.

The premises licence for the newly-expanded Nasza Biedronka was approved at a licensing panel hearing on September 28 after the applicant, Mohammed Kader, accepted conditions demanded by the police following a high number of alcohol-related incidents recorded in the area.

Robert Wedge, who lives nearby, said: “I’m just annoyed to find out after the event that the panel hearing took place, especially since I have been ringing them since July asking them when it was going to happen.”

He said he had objected to a previous licence application for the shop and spoke at the hearing when it was granted in January. Since then new owners had taken over, involving another licence application.

“I was objecting due to the fact that we already have seven off licences and two pubs in the area,” he said.

“I think we are awash with alcohol.”

He and other objectors also wrote to the council complaining that granting another licence could mean competing off-licences dropping their alcohol prices, attracting street drinkers who were already causing problems with anti-social behaviour.

He only discovered the licence had been granted when he went to a Broad Green Community Council meeting. It was then confirmed by a council officer a few days later.

Mr Wedge accepted that the panel was still likely to have approved the licence even if he was there to make his objections in person, but he was denied the opportunity.

A borough council spokesman said: “We have to hold our hands up here – we didn’t inform Mr Wedge and we should have done. We are looking into how this administrative error happened.

“However, it’s important to note that the entire panel were aware of the objections to this application. They were contained in the report before them, presented as part of the hearing and were taken fully into account before they made their decision.

“Since this decision was made the council has adopted a cumulative impact policy for the Manchester Road area, which presumes that we will in future refuse any new alcohol licences in the area unless the applicant can clearly show that it won’t undermine any one or more of the council’s licensing objectives.

"This was introduced because, in the council’s view, there is absolutely no community need for more licensed premises in that area and the new policy gives us more legal grounds to refuse new applications.”