The council time trap

I have spent the last week more or less permanently in front of the calendar, counting off days for the processing of licence applications.

The reason for this is that I am smarting over a licence application that allegedly arrived too late for transition as many did because it was posted in time but not opened by the licensing authority until Monday morning. This particular council, which covers one of the Queen's residences, is one of the very few that did not allow a modicum of flexibility. It turned down no less than 54 applications at 8am on 8 August. That's showing 'em!

But holding the trade to deadlines means it is right that councils should also adhere to the timescales in the act. They have to process transitional conversions in two months and personal licences in three, from the date of receipt. While straight conversions and personal licences will be automatically granted after this time, variations will be refused, and then there is the necessity for the applicant to make a 'complaint to the local magistrates and wait for an opportunity to be heard.

However, there is increasing concern that a number of new premises licences will not have been processed in time for the second appointed day, because of the log-jam brought about by late applications for transition. And the key point here is that there is no specific time limit for dealing with these new applications.

So if the council takes three months to process a new premises licence, it appears that there is no redress at all for the applicant. We are now within three months of the date announced by James Purnell for the start of the new system what is the position of an existing licensed pub which missed the deadline, put in a new application but has not had a premises licence granted by 24 November?

It seems to me to be grossly unfair that those premises have to close simply because the licensing authority has not got round to granting the licence, even after a protracted period. The delay is no fault of the licensee here: he is entitled to expect that his application will be processed within a reasonable period, and the two-month period set for transition seems to me to be more than adequate. Longer than that, and the authority could be said to be dragging its heels.

However, some councils are openly admitting that they still have a mountain of applications to process from transition. If some of the stories are to be believed, a great many people put in their applications in the last week. This means that conversions and variations will be being processed right up to the first week in October, before the backlog is finally cleared. It may not even be completed by then.

Where does that leave brand new applications made between now and then? Will councils have any time to process them as well, or will they go to the bottom of the pile?

The only crumb of comfort for applicants is if their new application runs up against representations. It is a double-edged sword, but the regulations provide that where relevant representations are made and not withdrawn, a hearing must be held within a specified period and then the application must be determined within five working days. That at least gives a timescale. An application lodged today, for example, would in those circumstances be determined by 2 November.

You may not like the decision, but at least you would have a licence. But time is running out.