Legal advice: Consultation on draft licensing policies

Local authorities have already issued draft licensing policies for next year - get in there and have your say.

By David Clifton of thePublican.com's team of legal experts from London solicitors Joelson Wilson.​

Consultation - there's a lot of it going on at the moment. Your local authority has probably now issued its draft licensing policy, but don't wait too long before finding out as some are imposing deadlines for responses which expire this month.

Of course we have the draft regulations under the Licensing Act 2003, with an eight week consultation period which will expire on November 10. The consultation document, draft regulations and accompanying government publications can be found at www.culture.gov.uk/alcohol_and_entertainment.

They are worth a read, if only to find out if you agree with the government that: "new rules will slash the red tape involved in applying for licences", there will be "a more streamlined administration process" and "significant amounts of paperwork will be cut at a stroke".

In future articles we will be exploring exactly what is hidden away in the draft regulations.

What the regulations so far published do not tell us is what the fees will be. The solution to that mystery is apparently to be revealed in a separate consultation "within the next month", which, on the basis of DCMS/Licensing Act timescales so far, must mean some time next spring - if we are lucky.

Going back to local licensing policy consultation, I wonder whether anything anywhere in the country can rival the glossy full colour 108-page publication issued by the City of Westminster and its accompanying similarly glossy full colour leaflet promising:

• "quality places to eat and drink"
• protection of "public safety and quality of life for everyone who lives, works or visits the city"
• refusal of applications for new licences for pubs, bars, music and dance venues and takeaways in the so-called stress areas (ie the West End, Edgware Road and Queensway/Bayswater).

Interesting little nuggets leap out at you from the draft policy:

• the government's statutory guidance is "indicative and not binding" - a battle between local policy and national guidance will be fought in council buildings and courts in the capital
• "the City Council wishes to encourage the provision of more seating in premises which serve alcohol" and "table service in place of open bar space"
• "core hours" for the sale of alcohol - terminal hours of 11.30pm Mondays to Thursdays, 12 midnight Fridays and Saturdays and 10.30pm Sundays (but 12 midnight on Sundays before bank holiday Mondays) - and later hours only when certain criteria are met. So much for the statutory guidance encouraging later terminal hours to discourage binge-drinking.

You might find it difficult to attack your local council's licensing policy at a later stage if you do not make your views known during the consultation process.

In Westminster, licensees and anyone else with an interest has until November 1 to respond.

Elsewhere in the country, time is running out fast - so do not delay if you want a say in how the new licensing regime will directly affect you and your business in the years to come.