Scotland denies licence 'chaos'
The Scottish Government has ruled out intervening to improve the "chaos" of licensing reform that has seen one in five licensed premises shut.
Scotland's Licensing Act came into force on Tuesday, but has been beset by delays in processing applications — leaving many without premises licences and unable to trade.
Industry leaders labelled the process a "meltdown" and "chaos". But a spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: "We wouldn't agree that it's been chaotic.
"It was clear that the Act would be a massive change and many licensing boards have done a good job, and many licensees have done what they needed to do.
"We have already said that we expect a common-sense approach to enforcement from police and licensing boards while the legislation beds in, but we have no plans to change how the Act is implemented. It was passed into legislation in 2005, and there has been an 18-month transition period."
Janet Hood, who heads the BII in Scotland, said the process had become a "meltdown" and added: "We have 20% fewer licensed premises, of all types, across Scotland today than we had on Monday." Hood estimated the chaos would cost 4,000 jobs across the licensed trade.
"Everyone welcomed the legislation initially as it was designed to give authorities more teeth to deal with bad operators, but encourage good ones to flourish. Instead it is stifling the whole licensed trade," said Hood.
Patrick Browne, chief executive of the Scottish Beer & Pub Association, said: "The word 'chaos' sums up where we're at. Edinburgh Licensing Board only began issuing three weeks ago, while North Lanarkshire has admitted not issuing any at all. Lawyers have said only 30% of licences have been granted so far. Paperwork has not been issued for the remaining two thirds."
However, there are examples of councils effectively granting a period of grace. In North Lanarkshire, the authority said all pubs that had submitted applications on time are being allowed to trade, but around 20 premises who applied late are not.
Mike Wilson, boss of the Epic Group, which operates seven licensed premises in Aberdeen, said he had received none of his premises licences, but is allowed to continue trading until the board deals with them.
MA legal editor Peter Coulson believed authorities who had failed to process those premises licences submitted on time could not force venues to close — it would contravene the Human Rights Act.
New premises licences are the first element of the new legislation to come into force. The personal licence deadline has already extended by two months, so the start of the full regime will now not come in until 1 November.
