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The LGA handbook for Licensing Act applications

Paddy Whur examines a handbook produced by the Local Government Association for councillors dealing with licensing applications.

The Local Government Association has now issued a handbook designed for councillors dealing with applications under the Licensing Act 2003. This is a document which we should be looking at to see what guidance is being given. This is not a statutory guidance document, such as the Guidance issued under S182 of the Licensing Act issued by the Home Office and therefore does not have the same status but could be useful for when appearing in front of licensing sub-committees or in representing an appellant before the Magistrates Court.

The following link will take you to the full document:

https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/10%2036_Licensing_Act_2003_V04%203_1.pdf

There is a lot of interesting content in the document and is really worth digesting, I will pick out some of the key points.

The section “strengths and weaknesses of the Licensing Act makes some very interesting points:

“In many respects, the Licensing Act is a positive model for a licensing system. It has a clear set of objectives, it allows local decision making, it has a clear appeals process and there are opportunities for everyone affected by a licence to make comments on it. Used creatively, licensing can be a tool to shape the places that communities live, work and socialise in and can help manage our concerns. However, the LGA has raised concerns about some weaknesses in the Act. Firstly, that the implementation of the Act has been consistently undermined by a lack of resourcing due to the centrally-set fee system. Secondly that the Act’s objectives have not been updated to reflect the return of public health responsibilities to local government. Licensing fees, which are set nationally have remained unchanged since 2005. The LGA has consistently argued that these fees underestimate the costs councils incur in overseeing the Act, and should be set locally. There have been various reviews and consultations around the localisation of fees over the last 10 years, and in 2015, the Government asked the LGA to work with it to develop an evidence base on the costs to councils of overseeing the Act. The LGA’s view is that locally set fees would re-dress the imbalance in fee incomes and whilst locally set fees might increase fees in some places, in others there may be decreases. Local fees could also benefit businesses, for example if there was a reduced annual fee.”

The document suggests that the LGA will push Government to look at local fee setting again in the future. It also suggests that the LGA still believes that a promotion of health licensing objective is needed:

“Lobbying for a health objective in the Licensing Act is long standing LGA policy. Whilst public health can contribute against any of the four existing licensing objectives, in practice it can be difficult for them to be heard; a specific ‘health’ objective could resolve that and allow a much more straightforward contribution. There is also strong support for a health objective among public health directors, Public Health England (PHE) and among some in Parliament. There has been a lot of work to build the evidence base for how this could work and PHE have piloted a health objective with eight advanced areas including Cornwall, Leeds and Wigan, which all developed practical ways to make using health data in licensing work. Building on this work PHE have developed an online resource’ 9 which brings together nationally available data and materials with local information to support councils to access a range of databases and tools. Local teams can input their own data to create interactive maps and reports to help them in their role as a responsible authority. Whilst there is no indication that the Government is going to take this forward, at least in the near future they continue to highlight the important role that public health plays in the licensing system as a responsible authority under the Act. This includes promoting the use of PHE’s analytical support package, providing public health teams with new tools to help effectively present relevant health data and supporting the Information Sharing to Tackle Violence programme to encourage A&E departments to share their data with community safety partnerships.”

The chapter on conditions is worthwhile reading and digesting.

“The setting of conditions is one of the most significant ways in which licensing authorities can influence the running of a premises. As well as mandatory conditions which are set out in the Act, authorities can also add ‘voluntary’ conditions to a licence. Used effectively, this can mean that authorities put in place the elements that are essential to promoting the licensing objectives. However, poorly designed or inappropriate conditions can have the effect of hampering a premises, preventing it from being financially viable and potentially leaving the community with an empty premises. The general rule is that conditions should be appropriate to the specific premises, necessary and proportionate. Many licensing authorities publish pools of conditions, which give applicants an idea of the types of conditions that may be imposed. It is recommended that these are published separately from the SLP to allow them to be updated in a more flexible way than the SLP would allow. Whilst pools of conditions are helpful, licensing committees should always avoid imposing these conditions as a matter of course, or as blanket conditions to be applied to every premises. The wording of such conditions should be seen as a template to ensure conditions are tailored to the specific operation of the premises. Licensing authorities must bear in mind that breach of any licence condition can potentially amount to a criminal offence, punishable by an unlimited fine and/or up to six months’ imprisonment. Conditions must therefore be clear, precise and proportionate in order for them to be enforceable.

"Applications that do not attract any representations (or where representations have been withdrawn) are granted subject only to conditions consistent with the operating schedule and the relevant mandatory conditions. Officers will draft those conditions under delegated authority in that situation, drawing on their expertise and any pools of model conditions. However, if there have been representations then licensing authorities have the opportunity to impose or amend/modify conditions on the licence. Like any decision during a licensing hearing, the steps taken to impose conditions must be appropriate to promote the licensing objectives. A sub-committee should be proactive with conditions and it is always worth considering whether objections could be overcome by conditions. Comments should be invited on proposed conditions before they are imposed. Conditions can be imposed in any case where they are considered ‘appropriate’. The key thing to remember with conditions is that less is more. The premise licence holder will need to be able to easily implement them if they are genuinely to make a difference to how the premises are run. Licences may be issued with just the mandatory conditions. Licensing authorities should not aim to micro-manage premises through the use of conditions. Premises that appear to need more conditions than usual may have more fundamental problems in terms of management or planned operation. Many operators will put forward their own conditions when they make an application. This is to be welcomed, but licensing committees will need to ensure that all of these proposed conditions are genuinely necessary; properly worded so that they are enforceable; and are achievable. These conditions can also be modified or new conditions added.”

In the section about hearings and what to expect there is a reminder to the councillors who will be hearing the application under the heading Member conduct:

“Members must, at all times, comply with the council’s member code of conduct which should set out the standards that members must observe and include:

  • treat others with respect
  • do not bully or intimidate anyone
  • do not compromise the impartiality of an officer
  • give reasons for all decisions
  • the ‘prejudicial interest’ concept.

A prejudicial interest is ‘one which a member of the public, with knowledge of the relevant facts, would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice your judgement of the public interest’. Appearance of bias While third party lobbying of elected members is legitimate and councillors may make representations to the licensing committee on behalf of other persons, it is crucial for the licensing authority and its committee to ensure that there is neither actual nor an appearance of bias in its decision-making. It should also be remembered that concerns about political lobbying were the basis of the concerns which led to the first Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life.

Section 25 of the Localism Act 2011 does not prevent councillors from publicly expressing a view about an issue or giving the appearance of having a closed mind towards an issue on which they are to adjudicate. However it is recommended that to avoid an appearance of bias the following advice should be observed.

  • No member sitting on the licensing subcommittee can represent one of the interested parties or the applicant. If s/ he wishes to do so s/he must excuse him/herself from membership of the sub-committee which is considering the application. Case law has also established they should not be in the room for the hearing once an interest has been declared.
  • If a member who sits on the licensing sub-committee is approached by persons wishing to lobby him/her as regards the licence application then that member must politely explain that they cannot discuss the matter and refer the lobbyist to his/her ward member or the licensing officer who can explain the process of decision making. If the member who sits on the licensing subcommittee wishes to represent them then s/ he will need to excuse him/herself from the licensing sub-committee.
  • Members who are part of the licensing sub-committee must avoid expressing personal opinions prior to the licensing sub-committee decision. To do so will indicate that the member has made up his/ her mind before hearing all the evidence and that their decision may not be based upon the licensing objectives nor the statement of licensing policy.
  • Members must not pressurise licensing officers to make any particular decisions or recommendations as regards applications.
  • Political group meetings should never be used to decide how any members on the licensing sub-committee should vote. The view of the Local Government Ombudsman is that using political whips in this manner may well amount to findings of maladministration. It may be advisable that the chair of the licensing sub-committee should state, during proceedings, that no member of the sub-committee is bound by any party whip.
  • Councillors must not be members of the licensing sub-committee if they are involved in campaigning about the particular application.
  • Other members (ie those who do not sit on the licensing sub-committee) need to be careful when discussing issues relating to matters which may come before the licensing sub-committee members as this can easily be viewed as bias/pressure and may well open that sub-committee member to accusations of such. While a full prohibition upon discussing such issues with committee members by other members may be impractical and undemocratic, local authorities are advised to produce local guidance for members on how such matters can be dealt with. Such guidance could include a definition of what is viewed as excessive, eg attempting to obtain a commitment as to how the member might vote.
  • Councillors must also be aware of the need to declare any pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests in matters that may come before them, whether these relate to policy issues or to specific applications.
  • Member behaviour is also governed by the code of conduct which members should have regard to, and most authorities also have a member/officer protocol which governs how members and officers should interact and the differences in their roles and responsibilities.
  • Members should consult their monitoring officers for further advice where necessary. A well-defined policy and comprehensive scheme of delegation to officers can go a long way to avoiding many of these pitfalls, although, of course, members must retain full oversight of how the scheme is working. There are no rules preventing councillors from sitting on applications within their own wards, although some authorities adopt their own rules to avoid this. Members may make representations about applications, make representations on behalf of others, or appear at a hearing if asked to do so by another person who has made a representation (subject to the rules above).”

All in all there is some really interesting stuff in this document and we wait to see if it is referred to in hearings.

Paddy Whur is a partner at Woods Whur. He can be contacted This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..