Mandatory alcohol code gives councillors more power

The Government has altered its controversial mandatory alcohol retailing code to make it "quicker and easier" for councils to tackle problem premises.

The code will see all venues forced to abide by nine mandatory trading conditions, including curbs on certain drinks deals and proving smaller wine servings.

The original plan was to have a second set of conditions that can be imposed by councils on multiple venues in hotspots.

This has been replaced by giving local councillors and licensing officers the right to call for a licence review — the plan was raised by Gordon Brown in Labour's party conference in September.

The move follows lobbying by trade groups who say forcing conditions on more than one premises in an area could penalise responsible operators.

Local authorities have also been calling for councillors and licensing officers to have the power to call for reviews.

A Home Office spokesman said: "We are determined to make sure that local authorities have the powers they need to deal with alcohol related crime and disorder. We have listened carefully to them and the licensed trade when discussing how the alcohol code will work in practice.

"The locally-applied conditions in the mandatory code will be replaced by new, tougher powers for local councillors and licensing officers making it quicker and easier for them to tackle problem premises by calling for a review to restrict or remove their licence without having to wait for the police or local residents to complain."

Noctis executive director Paul Smith welcomed the fact that the secondary conditions have been dropped — he labelled them a "real mess".

But he feared some councillors and licensing officers could instigate "knee-jerk" reviews when granted the new powers.

"There's an element of 'wait-and-see' as to whether the new proposals could make it worse."

Implementation on hold​

The code is unlikely to be implemented before April 2010 at the earliest, Government officials told the National Alcohol Conference last week.

That's according to Smith, who said officials made it clear that April would be the earliest time it could be implemented due to the Parliamentary timetable. The Home Office spokesman said no date has been set.

There's a question make over whether it will happen in the next couple of years.

Enabling powers have been granted for its introduction with the passing of the Policing and Crime Act.

But in a leaked letter from September, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said implementation of the code could be delayed until after April 2011 in a move to help struggling businesses.