Councillors put the brakes on a Littleport businessman’s plan to sell alcohol 24 hours a day from his garage.

East Cambridgeshire District Council’s licensing sub-committee met on Friday to rule on an application from Damian Trojak that would have allowed him to sell alcohol to consumers from the garage of his Woodfen Road home.

Mr Trojak told the committee that the garage was to be used for the storage of alcohol only, and that all alcohol sales would have been via the internet, telephone or using a ‘take away’ service.

He applied for a licence to sell alcohol 24 hours a day and seven days a week, with the business open to the public from 4pm-10pm daily.

But the panel of three councillors who oversaw the application decided to reject it, based on concerns raised by police and environmental health officials.

In a report put before the committee, Karen See, environmental health officer for the district council, raised concerns about the application, saying: “I have concerns with respect to potential disturbance from customer traffic flows, car parking on the road and on the gravel drive.”

And Sgt Ruth Sheehan, of Cambridgeshire Constabulary, added: “I have strong concerns about the security of the premises for storage of quantities of alcohol at an address which will be known to the public.

“Whilst many people may use their garage to store alcohol personally this address will be used as a shop and there is little or no added security to prevent this garage being a target for burglary.”

Littleport councillor Neil Morrison also highlighted his fears about the impact of the business on the village.

All called for strict conditions to be imposed, including banning any deliveries being made by people under 21, banning the sale of any goods to people under 18 – including soft drinks - and greatly improved security.