Galway Bay FM
13 April 2021
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Galway Bay fm newsroom – Galway City Council recorded a â¬160,000 end of year surplus despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The figures were revealed at this weekâs local authority meeting, where councillors unanimously adopted the councilâs 2020 annual financial statement as presented by the finance department.
Head of Finance Declan Smyth told this weekâs meeting that the surplus enjoyed by the council last year was down to the extensive Government support it received throughout 2020 and into 2021.
According the report, the local authority collected 61% of rates last year, compared to 83% in 2019 and 81% in 2018, however, a significant amount was recouped through the Governmentâs Rates Waiver Scheme.
Oxford Food and Wine could lose its licence A shop could lose its licence for repeatedly buying alcohol stolen from supermarkets. Oxford Food and Wine, on 512 Oxford Road, faces a licence review on Tuesday (March 16) after shop workers were caught buying stolen alcohol from a known shoplifter and drug user on 17 occasions. Thames Valley Police (TVP) has asked Reading Borough Council (RBC) to review the licence and recommended the council’s Licensing committee consider immediate revocation of the licence “as the only proportionate and necessary step available to prevent the undermining of the four licensing objectives”. TVP Licensing officer Declan Smyth said: “The alcohol, has been purchased with the full knowledge of all concerned that it had been stolen and for the simple reason that “it was cheap”.
Thames Valley Police (TVP) has asked the council to review Oxford Food and Wine’s licence. The shop is on 512 Oxford Road and follows in the wake of six other shops on the same street which have had their licences reviewed in the last few months. Declan Smyth, a licensing officer at TVP, said the grounds for review of the premises licence is to “address the wholesale purchasing of stolen alcohol by the premises licence holder/designated premises supervisor and other staff members at this premises”. He said this behaviour “supports criminality and supports drug users with their habit”, leading to further thefts in the town centre and on Oxford Road in order to sell stolen goods to Oxford Food and Wines.