Police oppose plans to sell booze at breakfast
Police want to block plans for a petrol station to sell alcohol from 7am until midnight yards from a college campus.
The Co-operative group, which has a store at the station in Wellington Road, Bilston, near Wolverhampton College's campus there, applied to sell booze for from as early as 5am Monday-Sunday.
However, the firm said that after discussions with police this was amended to two hours later. West Midlands Police opposed original plans, saying there weren't safeguards being put in place.
It says it will maintain its CCTV operation, put up 'CCTV in operation' signage, keep footage for 21 days, keep an incident log and fit the shop with a panic button.
Police say this isn't enough and will make representations at Thursday's licensing hearing.
Bilston North Ward councillor Linda Leach said: "Selling alcohol at 5am is very early and I will be looking to hold talks with West Midlands Police to find the full details of this application."
Fellow Bilston representative Councillor Bert Turner said: "We don't need it.
"We've just put in the blanket ban in Bilston and this will just move the problems closer to Wolverhampton.
"I don't understand it."
Co-operative Food spokeswoman, Helen Seed, said: "Following discussions with local police, we are amending the licensing application for our Wellington Road store in Bilston.
"Our intention is to extend the hours that we can sell alcohol by two hours each day, between 7am and midnight.
"As a community retailer, the opinions of local residents are very important to us, and they can rest assured that we will continue to adopt a responsible approach to the sale of alcohol."
