A hearing is to be held over a new supermarket's bid to be licensed to sell alcohol 24/7.

A licensing application has been submitted to Hartlepool Borough Council for the new Food Warehouse store opening at the former Carpetright unit at Teesbay retail park.

It would allow the shop to sell alcohol 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for consumption off the premises.

The proposals are to go before the council’s licensing sub-committee on Monday, November 10, after objections were lodged over the move, including by Cleveland Police.

The former Carpetright store at Teesbay Retail Park, Hartlepool, is to become a Food Warehouse later in November.

placeholder image — The former Carpetright store at Teesbay Retail Park, Hartlepool, is to become a Food Warehouse later in November.

A statement from the force argues the application “fails to adequately address the prevention of crime and disorder” licensing objective.

It said: “The area for which the premise licence has been requested is already, if not saturated, close to saturation in regards of premises selling alcohol.

“The area unfortunately suffers from anti-social behaviour (ASB) as well as other incidents such as theft from shops.

“I can say in my experience the ASB, and shop thefts do often go hand in hand with alcohol.”

They added if the application was amended so the sale of alcohol could only occur between 8am and 10pm and additional conditions were added then they would withdraw their objection.

Additionally a response from the council’s licensing department notes they do “not accept that longer opening hours for licensed premises have been a benefit to Hartlepool”.

They also point to how the local authority’s statement of licensing policy states that for shops and supermarkets “licences for before 9am or after 10pm in residential areas” and beyond 2am in non-residential areas will “generally be refused”.

The application stresses numerous measures will be in place to ensure no issues occur including thorough CCTV coverage, an incident log, a refusals register, a Challenge 25 policy and regular staff training.

The new Food Warehouse shop is to open at the unit on November 18, “bringing 20 new jobs to the local community”.

The move will see the closure of the existing Iceland store located at the shopping park, with all staff given the opportunity to move to the new site.

For details of Hartlepool public notices, go tohttps://publicnoticeportal.uk/ .