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Time Limits - Popular relaxation of TEN time limits abandoned.

Following the previous government's consultation regarding various time limits within the Licensing Act a draft order passed smoothly through the House of Lords on the 13th July.

Currently, should a Premises Licence Holder die, become mentally incapable or be declared insolvent any premises licence held would immediately lapse and licensable activity must cease immediately. These licences can be reinstated but only if swift action is taken within 7 days of the event. The new order will extend this period to 28 days. This appears to be a sensible amendment and received almost universal support in consultation responses.

Another matter addressed is the time limit for Police to file a representation to TEN applications. Currently the police are permitted only

"48hrs" to file their written objection to any TEN. This can be problematic if the TEN is served on a Friday evening; in such cases Police licensing officers returning to work on Monday after a weekend off duty may find they are too late to object. The Police in future will be permitted "2 working days"; this avoiding the situation described above. Finally, the length of time an Interim Authority lasts will be extended from 2 to 3 months.

Regrettably other limbs of the consultation have been abandoned. A proposal to allow TEN applications to be made on less than 10 days notice with the consent of the Police has been dropped. This provision which was of real interest to those within the industry and would have given sensible flexibility for operators.

In addition a proposal to remove the requirement for Licensing Authorities to review their policies every 3 years has also been dropped.

The surviving amendments now seem certain to succeed and we now await the Secretary of State to formally sign them into law. Once adopted, we will confirm the date the amendments will take effect.