Licensing reform - the word on the street

Operators and practitioners alike are still anxiously awaiting the publication by the government of its proposals for licensing reform, following the consultation which closed on September 8.

Something that was so rushed at the outset now seems to be a long time coming. In the meantime, our snouts tell us the following are likely to feature:

• Licensing authorities and health authorities will become new "responsible authorities"

• A "late-night levy" will be applied to premises staying open after midnight - the amount will be fixed by the individual licensing authority, subject to a statutory cap

• A greater onus will be placed on applicants for premises licences and variations to "consider the impact of the application on the local area"

• Licensing authorities will be able to pass early morning restriction orders from midnight, rather than from 3am, as is currently the case

• In exercising their functions, licensing authorities will focus on what is "beneficial for the licensing objectives", rather than on what is "necessary to promote" them

• The concept of "living in the vicinity", which currently determines a resident's right to object to an application, will be scrapped and replaced with the test of whether they "live sufficiently close to the premises to be likely to be affected by the authorised activities" (the same test as in the Gambling Act).

We understand that the following proposals have been watered down:

• Giving decisive weight to police evidence - the government would still like to ensure that the police get a greater say, but plans to do this by amending the Secretary of State's guidance, rather than the legislation itself

• A sanction for failing to pay the premises licence annual fee - this is to be the suspension of the licence pending payment, rather than revocation, as was originally proposed.

We expect the government to back away from its barmy proposals on appeals - making the magistrates remit any appealed matter back to the licensing authority in all but exceptional cases, and removing the entitlement to keep on trading pending an appeal. It seems that the government plans to leave the appeals system untouched, indicating that advice on human rights law may well have been sought. Plans to make prevention of health harm a fifth licensing objective have also been dropped, we are told.

Watch this space!