Licensees – What Does the Future Hold?
by Scott Gair, October 12th, 2011
Unless you have your head buried in the sand, you will be aware that there has been a concerted effort by the Coalition to reduce the deficit, and that includes looking at ways to cut costs and expenses across the Country.
Sky News reported earlier this year that the cost to the NHS of treating alcohol related sickness is in the region of £3bn.
The Telegraph reported in 2009 that this would cover more than 170,000 kidney transplants, or the entire cost of the breast cancer drug Herceptin for the next 30 years. When you hear those figures you realise just how significant not only the financial costs are, but also the human cost to drinking. With this in mind, the Coalition are hell bent on changing licensing laws over the next few months, and despite many in the trade raising their concerns, it is likely the proposed reforms will be introduced.
The Coalition are trying to introduce a “Late Night Levy”. This will allow local Councils to charge late night drinking establishments a fee for staying open late. This could be hundreds or thousands of pounds a year. We will have to wait and see what the levy is actually used for – to add extra police to the streets at night; or to fatten the coffers of the councils?
At present, anyone wanting to object to an application for a premises licence, or anyone wanting to submit an application for review of a premises licence must be either an “interested party” or a “responsible authority”. Responsible authorities include the police, child protection authority, environmental health and a few others. “Interested Parties” are people that live or work in the vicinity of the premises concerned, or represent people that do. This means that someone living in say Worthing, but working in Lewes, will not have a credible complaint about an application for a new premises licence in say Brighton. The Coalition are looking to remove the “in the vicinity” element so that in future that person could object, even if they do not live or work in the same town or city as the premises concerned. What does this mean? Well, licensees will need to be much more careful about how they treat their customers, and how they deal with complaints. It is not a wild stretch of the imagination to think that this could lead to a lot more premises licence reviews, and potentially a lot more premises licences being revoked.
There are large scale changes proposed for licensing, so it very important that licensees keep up to date on these to ensure they are best place to adapt and reduce any financial impact they may bring. Watch this space for further updates!
For more information on licenses please contact a member of our Leisure team.
By Scott Gair
Licensees – are you ready for the large scale legal reform to licensing this year?
by Scott Gair, June 17th, 2011
The Coalition government is hell bent on rushing through the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill. It is likely, for the time being at least, that the Bill will receive Royal Assent and become enforceable at the tail end of 2011.
Whilst there is a lot in the Bill which deals with other matters not necessarily connected to licensing, there is also an awful lot of proposed legislative changes to licensing which have been slipped in to the Bill and are in danger of upsetting a lot of licensees. The question is – are you ready for the changes?
The tone of the licensing reforms were set when James Brokenshire MP recently said “the ‘café culture’ that the Licensing Act 2003 was expected to deliver has failed to materialise and instead our town centres have become blighted by crime and disorder driven by irresponsible drinking. We are committed to overhauling licensing in England and Wales so that alcohol is no longer the driver of violent crime and anti social behaviour that it is today.”
I think it is fair to say that alcohol is a factor in some crime and disorder, but is it not the individuals that are the problem as opposed to the alcohol as such? For the vast majority of society, having a drink is part of a healthy and balanced lifestyle; for others, it can lead to serious health issues and may play a part in criminal activity. The Governments response to licensing seems to be focussing on the wrong person – surely they should focus on the perpetrators of crime and not those in the licensed trade? Every week we read about criminals being released early from jail and re-offending, or Magistrates complaining that their sentencing powers are not sufficient. Is this not telling us something?
The licensing reforms that are likely to find their way on to the statute book, in my mind, are disproportionate and will not tackle the problem of “irresponsible drinking.”
The changes that we are likely to see will mean that in the future, Licensing Authorities (the Licensing Department at the Council) can charge a late night levy to all licensed premises remaining open past a certain hour. For example, all licensed premises open after midnight may have to pay an additional fee to the Licensing Authority, and early reports suggest the level of fee will be linked to the properties non domestic rateable value. Whilst this may be appropriate for certain areas of town (and most of us know areas of the town where we live that need sorting out), sadly the legislation does not allow the Licensing Authority to distinguish between certain localities. This means that if Brighton and Hove City Council were to bring in the late night levy, not only would it hit the town centre bars/clubs, it would also affect the out of town (in say Patcham), village pubs, who are quietly going about their business. Madness!
At the moment the Licensing Authority can only attach conditions to a Premises Licence if it is “necessary.” They can only take away a Premises Licence if it is “necessary” too. This means that very often it is seen as a last resort. The proposed legislative changes are suggesting lowering that evidential burden so that the Licensing Authority can revoke a Premises Licence or attach conditions to it if it is “appropriate.” This requires a much lower burden of proof and will put a lot more power in the hands of the Licensing Authority, and more to the point, individual Licensing Officers. In short, it will become far easier for Licensing Authorities to revoke Premises Licences.
As the law stands, anyone who wants to submit an application to the Licensing Authority to review a Premises Licence, will need to be in the vicinity of the premises. Sadly “vicinity” is not defined but case law suggests it means “in the neighbourhood.” The Government are proposing to remove this test so that anyone could call for a review of a Premises Licence or raise objections to applications. This means that people living in say Worthing could object to a publican in Brighton wishing to extend his opening hours. I fear that this will lead to a whole host of busy bodies submitting very weak representations and applications to the Licensing Authority, and sadly there is not a great deal the Premises Licence holder can do about it. It will therefore be all the more important for licensees to be on the charm offensive and ensure that any complaints are dealt with swiftly to avoid any disgruntled customer trying to seek revenge by submitting an application to revoke the Premises Licence!
I could carry on this soap box all day, but for the time being I bid you all farewell and will update you as the legislative changes creep towards our statute books.
Any licensees should keep a close eye on this subject over the weeks and months as there may be ways to mitigate the, in my view, harmful effects of this legislation.
For expert advice on Licensing Law, contact me on 01273 407430 or email at sgair@mayowynnebaxter.co.uk
By Scott Gair