LGA calls for major review of licensing laws

The Government should conduct a comprehensive review of licensing laws and scrap those that are found to be obsolete and inefficient, the Local Government Association has said.

In a report, Open for Business: Rewiring Licensing, the LGA said those laws that are retained should also be updated so as to work more effectively.

The LGA said a revamped regime should be “relevant, simple, cost neutral, risk-based and…. address the issues of concern to local residents and businesses”.

It criticised the current system whereby licensing laws are split across different central government departments. This leads to “uncoordinated and overlapping” requirements, the LGA claimed.

The LGA called for a single government department to oversee the reformed framework.

Its report also proposes that:

• Businesses should be allowed to go through a single application process, “leading to a single licence tailored to their business needs”;
• New powers to withdraw licences for non-compliance should be introduced. “[This] which would remove the need for bureaucratic renewal process and lead to a simpler ‘licence for life’ principle”;
• The Government should deliver on its “overdue” commitment to localise alcohol fees. Nationally-set fees continue to cost councils millions of pounds a month, the LGA claimed;
• New licensing objectives should be introduced to help councils tackle clustering on high streets and protect public health;
• Councils should be allowed to adopt local licensing systems to reflect new and emerging risks, such as sunbeds;
• When granting licences councils should be able to effectively consider local representations, where there is a public interest;
• The Government should ensure that councils have the legal flexibility to offer diverse payment options to businesses.

Councils as well as businesses were forced to negotiate a system that was "out-dated, inflexible and complex", and placed unnecessary costs and burdens on them both, the report argued.

Cllr Tony Page, Licensing Champion on the LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: “Licensing is vital for councils to support and encourage businesses and protect residents from the risks of dangerous and irresponsible activities. However, the current system is out-dated and inflexible a maze of unnecessary and costly bureaucracy.

“Our reform proposals are not just about the administration of issuing, maintaining and paying for licences. We are setting out the case for councils to have broader powers to ensure licensing can address the issues of concern to local residents and businesses and how a wider set of licensing objectives would allow councils to fully take into account the social and health impacts of licensing decisions on their local communities.”

Cllr Page added: “Reform of the system has been decades in the making and we are calling for the Government to take on our proposals. They would allow businesses to flourish and hand communities the protection they deserve and rightly expect from their council.”