Licensing Act 2003

The Licensing Act 2003 came into force on 24 November 2005. The Act authorises the use of any premises or temporary events - this includes a vehicle, vessel or moveable structure, or any place (or a part of) any premises, for licensable activities which are:

• the sale by retail of alcohol
• the supply of alcohol by or on behalf of a club to, or to the order of, a member of the club
• the provision of regulated entertainment
• the provision of late night refreshment (non-alcoholic) between 11pm and 5am

Regulated entertainment is described as:

• the performance of a play
• an exhibition of a film
• an indoor sporting event
• boxing or wrestling entertainment
• a performance of live music
• any playing of recorded music
• a performance of dance
• or entertainment of a similar description to live music, recorded music or dance

The Act requires each licensing authority to promote the four licensing objectives:

1. prevention of crime and disorder
2. prevention of public nuisance
3. promotion of public safety
4. protection of children from harm

The Act also provides a balanced package of freedoms and safeguards. It has an important role in the prevention of crime and disorder and public nuisance perpetrated by a minority, and gives the responsible majority more freedom and choice about how they spend their leisure time.

It provides certain rights of appeal to the magistrates' court for those who feel aggrieved by decisions made by licensing authorities. So a right of appeal is not only given to applicants where their application has been rejected, or has been granted subject to conditions, but is also given to those who made relevant representations in relation to an application, for example, a local resident has a right to appeal against the decision of the licensing authority to grant a premises licence if they made relevant representations as an interested party in relation to the application where he considers the application should not have been granted.

Premises licence

This licence will be required for any premises where licensable activities take place (the sale of alcohol and regulated entertainment as described above). These licences are of unlimited duration. There are no statutory limitations to the hours or days during which businesses are able to provide licensable activities. It is our responsibility to decide whether the operating times for which licensees apply are granted and whether conditions to the licence are required to promote the licensing objectives.

Applications for licensed premises have to be accompanied by various documentation including a scaled drawing, and an operating schedule. The contents of the operating schedules must detail the proposed licensable activities, including whether or not alcohol is to be sold, the type of regulated entertainment to be provided, the hours they propose to open and how they intend to satisfy the four licensing objectives.

To help you to complete your operating schedule we've come up with a pool of licensing conditions, from which you can choose model conditions which are relevant to your licensed premises.

Club premises certificate

These certificates will authorise qualifying clubs to use club premises for qualifying club activities.

Definition of a qualifying club

There must be an interval of at least two days between a member's nomination/application for membership and their admission, there must be at least 25 members and the club must be established and conducted in 'good faith', which is determined by the way it is financed.

Qualifying club activities

The supply of alcohol by or on behalf of a club to a member for consumption on the premises, the retail sale of alcohol by or on behalf of a club to a guest of a member for consumption on the premises and the provision of regulated entertainment by or on behalf of a club for its members and guests.

The grant of a club premises certificate means that a club is entitled to certain benefits, which include the authority to supply alcohol to its members and sell it to guests without the need for any member or employee to hold a personal licence, and the absence of a requirement to specify a designated premises supervisor.

Applications for Club Premises Certificates have to be accompanied by various documentation including a scaled drawing, and an operating schedule. The contents of the operating schedules must detail the proposed licensable activities, including whether or not alcohol is to be sold, the type of regulated entertainment to be provided, the hours they propose to open and how they intend to satisfy the four licensing objectives.

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Premises and club premises licence reviews

Where premises create problems which impact on the four licensing objectives, anyone can ask for a licence to be reviewed by the Council. If the objections are upheld, the council has the power to restrict or remove licences. Reviews may be called, for example, where there is evidence of ongoing nuisance by the Council’s Environmental Health section or where the police witness breeches of licence conditions. In any case, there must be evidence in support of requests for review. The Council has the ability to dismiss objections that it considers vexatious, repetitive or frivolous.

Authorisation for sales of alcohol

With premises that are licensed to sell alcohol there will be times when the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) will not be on the premises when alcohol is sold. In these circumstances the Licensing Authority strongly advises that the DPS authorise, in writing, members of staff to sell alcohol. This authorisation can then be kept on the premises and produced to an authorised officer if requested.

The Licensing Authority has produced two authorisation forms one for the DPS and one for the Authorised Staff which are available to download from the application forms page.

Personal licence

This licence authorises a specified person to supply alcohol or allow the supply of alcohol at a premises that has a valid premises licence. Personal licences are valid for ten years and will be portable between premises.

To qualify for a personal licence applicants must:

• be aged 18 or over
• possesses an accredited licensing qualification, or is a person of prescribed description
• ensure no personal licence held by him has been forfeited within the period of five years before making the application
• have not been convicted of any relevant or foreign offence

If it appears there are convictions for any relevant or foreign offences, the licensing authority will give a notice to the Chief of Police for the area. If the police make no objections within a 14 day period, the licence must be granted.

There are various duties on holders of personal licences, and the court can forfeit their licence if they are convicted of various offences.

To apply for a personal licence you will have to contact the local Council where you live and not the Council in the district in which you work.

Temporary event notices

These notices replace the existing occasional licences and relate to:

• temporary events with less than 500 attendees where licensable activities will take place and a premises licence is not held
• licensed premises that wish to vary their licensable activities for an event

If you intend to hold an event with more than 500 attendees, you will need to apply for either a premises licence or a club premises certificate.

Personal licence holders may make up to 50 temporary event notice applications per year for events at premises with no licence or premises holding a licence that does not cover planned activities. If you are a non-personal licence holder you may make up to five applications per year before you will need to apply for a personal licence and obtain an approved licence qualification. Each event may last no longer than 96 hours and there must be at least 24 hours between events. No premises will be granted a temporary licence more than 12 times per year or for more than 15 days per year. Should your requirements be greater you will need to apply for a premises licence or a club premises certificate.

Important: A temporary events notice must be served on the Licensing Authority and the Chief of Police at least 10 working days before the event is to be held, this does not include the date served or the date of the event.

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Objections and representations

The Police are entitled to object on the grounds of crime prevention to all applications whether you currently hold a licence or not. In which case a hearing will be held by the Council’s licensing committee (which consists of ten elected Local Authority Members), unless agreed unnecessary by the applicant and police.

For new licences and variations to existing licences/certificates, representation can be made regarding the likely effect of the grant of the licence/certificate in relation to the four licensing objectives . Please refer the the guidance documents page.

These can be made by:

• a responsible authority (Police/Fire Service/Environmental Health)
• other interested parties
• any person living in the vicinity of the premises
• any body representing such persons
• any person involved in a business in the vicinity
• and/or a body representing such persons

Representations will not be considered where the Council believes them to be frivolous or vexatious. The licensing committee will consider these representations, taking account of the licensing objectives relative to the Council's policy and may, on this basis, decide to grant, reject or alter the terms of the licence/certificate. You will have a right of appeal to the Magistrate’s Court.

For more information on making a representation (object or support) visit our current licensing applications page.

Hearing procedures

We are required to give notice of the date, time and place where the hearings will be held. Hearings have to be held within a specified time of five, seven, ten or twenty working days beginning with the date after which a particular licence process has been completed. Please read the guidance document for more information on the process and procedures carried out for dealing with applications and hearing, please see the guidance documents page for futher information.

Application forms, guidance and fees

For further information please visit the guidance documents and application forms pages.

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Please note that the information on this page is not legal advice. It is not necessarily comprehensive and will be subject to revision in the event of further government guidance. This advice is not intended to be a definitive guide to, nor substitute for, the relevant law.

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Public Register

Information on all licences issued under the Licensing Act, including times, types of entertainment and associated conditions are available. To view the registers please visit the Licensing register page

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