Police and council can't share bed

It is a little disingenuous of Councillor Audrey Lewis in the MA ('Even Coulson can get it wrong over licensing letters, 4 August) to seek to divert an important issue into a question of semantics.

I have never confused licensing authorities with responsible authorities. The Licensing Act 2003 spells out the difference quite clearly. However, during the passage of the bill through Parliament, the local authority lobby certainly did its best to confuse the two roles, and there is no reason to consider that the real outcome is likely to be any different.

The point I was making a couple of weeks ago, and to which she took such exception, was the close proximity of Westminster's own council officials, who deal with licensing, with the Metro-politan Police unit which also deals with licensing.

Her letter skated over the fact that in Marylebone they co-habit in the same council offices. So you have an important element of the council sharing a fax machine with the body that eventually will initiate prosecutions against licensees. It is an old cliche in legal circles that justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done.

It is a valid observation, I think, that not only I, but several other representatives of the licensed trade in London, are not altogether happy at the cosy nature of the relationship between the police and the council, which is, after all, the ultimate licensing authority.

I have absolutely no qualms about the police and the council working in partnership with others to achieve the licensing objectives. That is what the law intends, and there are various ways this can be carried out.

The environmental health department of Westminster City Council has a legitimate interest in licensing matters, and is currently the designated department to be involved with licensing applications to the justices. So it is not just in the role of responsible authority that we see it.

In fact, for many years licensing in Westminster has come under the aegis of environmental health. I am told things are different now, but the link is close.

But the police should be separate. They have an enforcement role and they have a role as objectors. They are served with notices by applicants and also by the council. Their representations are to be considered by councillors in reaching a fair and honest decision. That means a clear distinction between their role and that of the council.

So the question is not whether I know the difference, but whether the councils do.