EFFORTS are being made to stop a Tesco Express being allowed to sell alcohol 24-hours a day.

The shop in Southchurch Road, Southend, currently sells booze between 6am to midnight.

However, ward councillor Matt Dent slammed the proposal and has written to the licensing department urging them to reject it.

In the letter he claims the area is already struggling with alcohol-fuelled antisocial behaviour.

He wrote: “It is my belief amending the licence to allow alcohol to be sold unrestricted would be further detrimental to the standard of living in the local area.

“As well as the antisocial behaviour on Southchurch Road itself, the premises is located very close to Southend East railway station, which has suffered from a number of antisocial, criminal and violent incidents recently.”

He explained that stopping the licence was not going to solve the problems, but will help to prevent them getting worse.

He added: “There is no need for 24-hour sales. There is a lot of concern from residents that this is going to make existing problems worse and there is a school less than a five minute walk up the road – we don’t want people drinking through the night and being around children who are on their way to school, that is not the environment we want.”

The application has also raised concern from the public with David Eastwick writing on Facebook: “I agree it does not need a 24-hour alcohol licence. The current licence works well why change it.

“Tesco Express is in a residential area and does not need this added pressure. I agree it could encourage antisocial behaviour as there has to be a security guard there already.”

Reece Latimer added: “Alcohol does not need to be available 24/7 but at the end of the day if you’re going to drink you would make sure you have the alcohol before a certain time anyways but I’m sure it will attract the wrong types of people at night. But then that’s their issue to deal with it and ensure security is there at all times.”

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We take the responsible sale of alcohol very seriously and always engage with the community and relevant parties, including police, when submitting licensing applications. As part of this application we have discussed how we can ensure that we continue to sell alcohol in a responsible manner.”