Police have raised concerns about plans to open a supermarket in a former WHSmith store in Gillingham, Kent.
A SPAR shop is due to open in place of the stationery store in Gillingham High Street, which closed its doors in January.
But PC Andre Smuts from Medway Police Station wrote to councillors asking them not to grant the new shop an alcohol licence.
He said the force had concerns about allowing another off licence to open in the High Street, where officers confiscate alcohol from street drinkers “on a regular basis”.
His report said: “Kent Police are concerned that the granting of another off-licence in this immediate area, an area that is already populated by many licensed premises, would make alcohol even more widely available and is likely to attract further street drinkers and antisocial behaviour resulting in issues worsening and becoming a greater problem.”
An objection has also been raised by the council’s public health department about the number of street drinkers in the area and how this contributes to littered bottles and glass, as well as smell from public urination and defecation.
The licence application will be discussed during a meeting of Medway Council’s licensing hearing panel on Tuesday, May 10.
The Post Office which had been inside WHSmith moved to Wards newsagents, also in the High Street.
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