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Home Office Licensing Act review begins

The Home Office has today issued a public consultation document regarding their review of the Licensing Act 2003. The deadline for commenting is the 8th September 2010 (6 weeks time).

Concerns have been raised regarding the speed with which the government seem intent to progress this matter. The workshops, mentioned in the article "Summer Transfer Hots Up", are due to take place within the next 2 weeks with an announcement of their findings and legislative reform proposals in the autumn.

A link to the full consultation document is below, some of the ‘highlights’ of the consultation’s proposals include:

• A late night levy to help pay for Policing and the scrapping of Alcohol Disorder Zones.
   
• Increasing Police powers in respect of closure orders, extending period of closure from 24 hours to 7 days.
   
• Doubling the fine for “persistently selling alcohol to children” from £10k to £20k.
   
• Banning below cost sales of alcohol.
   
• Increasing licence fees to cover costs of enforcement.
   
• Revocation of licences for non payment of fees.
   
• Bringing into force and amending uncommenced powers to create Early Morning Restriction Orders so that Local Authorities can decide between which hours they would like to prevent premises from opening.
   
• Scrapping the proximity rule for complaints over a licence.
   
• Addition of “Public Health” as a licensing objective.
   
• Amendments to the current Temporary Event Notices system including:
  - Increase to time limit for Police to object
  - Enable all responsible authorities to object
  - Increase notification period and
  - Reduce the number a single personal licence holder can apply for from 50 to 12 per location.
   
• Amendments to the grant of premises licences including:
  - Give Authorities right to refuse applications or review licence without requiring representation from a responsible authority
  - Remove the need for Authorities to demonstrate their decisions are reasonable.
  - Reduce the evidential burden of proof required by Licensing Authorities in licence applications and reviews and increase the weight given to representations from the Police.
   
•  Amendments to the appeal process, bringing Licensing Authority decisions into force immediately, regardless of whether an appeal is lodged and making it a default position for a Magistrate’s Court to remit a matter back to the Licensing Authority instead of imposing their own decision.
   
• Consultation on the of new mandatory conditions order, with the possibility of scrapping the same. (Not a guarantee!)

Very few of these changes will be welcomed by the industry save for the consultation regarding the new mandatory conditions. Some may feel however that any amendment to the mandatory conditions, especially the controversial “irresponsible drinks promotion” condition, are unlikely to materialise in any final proposals by the Home Office.

Home Secretary Theresa May outlined the key points in a speech on anti-social behaviour on Wednesday. The Home Secretary was quoted:

“The benefits promised by the 24-hour drinking café culture have failed to materialise and we have seen an increase in the number of alcohol-related incidents and drink-fuelled crime and disorder.”

Although the Home Office appear to accept in principle that the majority of pubs and bars are well-run businesses, the Home Office seems intent on a further 'rebalancing' of the system in favour of local communities in what is currently a difficult trading period, such a ‘rebalancing’ could adversely affect all premises, whether well run or not.

We hope to take part in the consultation and will report on our findings in future articles.