Home Office embarks on radical overhaul of licensing system
The government has prepared the ground for the most radical shake-up of licensing law in years in a consultation paper published today (28 July).
A Home Office consultation paper, billed as a rebalancing of licensing in favour of local communities, includes a number of well-trailed measures such as giving local authorities and the police stronger powers to remove or refuse to grant licences for problem premises, allowing councils to charge more for late-night licences, and banning the below cost sale of alcohol.
But the proposals go much further than that, with other key measures including:
- Giving licensing authorities the power to refuse licence applications or call for a licence review without requiring relevant representations from a responsible authority
- Removing the need for licensing authorities to demonstrate their decisions on licences ‘are necessary’ for (rather than of benefit to) the promotion of the licensing objectives
- Reducing the evidential burden of proof required by licensing authorities in making decisions on licence applications and reviews
- Increasing the weight licensing authorities will have to give to relevant representations and objection notices from the police
- Simplifying cumulative impact policies to allow licensing authorities to have more control over outlet density
- Allowing local authorities to consider the views of the wider community, not just those living close to premises
- Taking action on underage drinking by doubling the fine to £20,000 for those found persistently selling alcohol to children, extending orders that see premises closed on a voluntary basis to a minimum of seven days and bringing in automatic licence reviews for problem premises
- Scrapping “ineffective, bureaucratic and unpopular” Alcohol Disorder Zones
- Enabling licensing authorities to have flexibility in restricting or extending opening hours to reflect community concerns or preferences
- Amending the process of appeal to “avoid the costly practice of rehearing licensing decisions”
- Increasing licence fees so councils can operate on a full cost recovery basis
- Enabling more involvement of local health bodies in licensing decisions by designating health bodies as a responsible authority and seeking views on making health a licensing objective
- Tightening up rules for temporary licences by limiting the number of temporary event notices that can be applied for in any one year
- Enabling licensing authorities to revoke licences due to non-payment of fees
- Consulting on the impact of the Mandatory Licensing Conditions Order and whether the current conditions should be removed.
The consultation period will last just six weeks, with the closing date for submissions set for 8 September 2010. The government intends to legislate through the Police and Social Responsibility Bill.
The Home Secretary, Theresa May, said: “The benefits promised by the 24-hour drinking ‘café culture’ have failed to materialise and in its place we have seen an increase in the number of alcohol-related incidents and drink-fuelled crime and disorder.
“We know that the majority of pubs and bars are well run businesses but the government believes that the system needs to be rebalanced in favour of the local communities they serve with tougher action taken to crack down on the small number of premises who cause problems.”
The Home Office cited research suggesting there were one million violent crimes that were alcohol-related in 2009, and estimates that the total cost to the taxpayer of alcohol-related crime and disorder is between £8bn and £13bn.
