LICENSING bosses have given a Winchester petrol garage the green light to sell alcohol.

The bid by BP for its filling station in St Cross Road fuelled a massive protest by nearby residents, who feared it would attract drunkenness and vandalism.

The garage had originally asked Winchester City Council (WCC) if it could sell refreshments from 11pm-5am, but this was dropped shortly before the application was heard last Friday (October 9).

It also reduced the period it wanted to sell alcohol by an hour – from 8am-10pm instead of 11pm – prompting the police and environmental health to drop their objections.

But it was still strongly opposed by more than 60 residents who attended the WCC licensing sub-committee meeting at The Guildhall.

“We have already witnessed examples of serious assault, anti-social behaviour, burglary, wilful damage to property and drug-related crimes,” said Roger Fernley, of St Cross Road. “The late evening availability of alcohol will create custom, gatherings of people and a heightened risk in the nature and volume of crimes.”

Speaking during an interval in proceedings, Dan Haas, also of St Cross Road, said he was worried about the impact on nearby bail hostels.

“The area for a quarter of a mile around has many places where drinkers tend to meet at night,” he said. “These are not late night revellers from the city, these are people with little if any income with all sorts of reasons why they need to drink into the early hours.”

Keith Diamond, of Norman Road, said: “What sort of people need to drink strong alcohol on a street corner at 8am? How is that benefiting residents?”

Responding to concerns that the plans would encourage drink driving, Robert Botkai, a solicitor, for BP, said: “There’s no evidence I’m aware of that people go to off licences and drink there and there’s no reason to distinguish petrol stations from off licences.”

“Things tending to happen is not enough,” he added, addressing WCC’s licensing sub-committee. “You need to be satisfied on the evidence that these things are likely to happen.”

Mr Fernley, reacting to the licence being approved, said: “We are pleased that the all-night application was withdrawn, although disappointed that we only discovered this at the very start of the meeting.”

“Disappointment lingers still,” he added. “Links between alcohol, anti-social behaviour and crime demands we take a tough stance on limiting new opportunities to buy alcohol.

“The impact of alcohol and its consequences, far from being a purely city centre problem, extends to all outer lying parts of Winchester, including St Cross”