Licensing Act 2003 - Decision Making

When objections or complaints are received

Variation and New Licences

If the Licensee wants to change anything, then they have to apply to vary that licence.  Any interested party or Responsible Authority can object to proposed changes. 

New Personal Licences

Only the Police can object to the grant of a Personal Licence.  This will happen if the applicant has a criminal conviction and the grant of the licence would undermine the crime prevention objective.

How will people find out that an application has been made?

Applications for variations and new premises and clubs have to be advertised both on the premises and in a newspaper.

Temporary Event Notices

A Temporary Event Notice is used to authorise events lasting not more than 96 hours, which are for no more than 499 people.  These notices must be served on us as a Licensing Authority and the Police no less than 10 working days before the event excluding the day of the event AND the day on which the application is received.

Premises Licence Reviews

Where there are problems because of the way that licensed premises are run, any interested party or responsible authority may, at any time, apply to us as a Licensing Authority for a review of the licence (or Club Premises Certificate).

The licensing system is not the only way of regulating licensed premises and more appropriate legislation should generally be used first. 

What grounds can be used for an objection or review?

The Licensing Act is based around four principles:

• the prevention of crime and disorder,
• public safety,
• the prevention of public nuisance, and
• the protection of children from harm.

Reviews must be relevant to these issues.  Representations must be in writing and may be amplified at the subsequent hearing.  Only the original issues may be addressed at the hearing - nothing else.

The law requires us to reject representations that we consider to be frivolous or vexatious.  We can also deny a request for a review if it repeats the grounds of a previous review - this would normally only be permitted after at least twelve months.

What happens if there is a valid objection?

A valid request for review ('representation') will be heard by our Licensing Sub-Committee of three councillors.

Copies of representations are given to the licence holder in advance, and he or she is allowed to make a defence.  Please note that Licensing Officers are not able to work on behalf of objectors to help them prepare representations, and cannot speak on their behalf.

All parties are allowed to speak and may elect to be legally represented.

The sub-committee may (in general) grant licences with or without additional conditions, exclude from the licence a licensable activity, revoke or suspend for up to three months an existing licence, or reject the application or Review request.  There is no power to grant a licence or club premises certificate for a limited trial period.