One objector can cause havoc

In the old days (and still a system in use, I discover) a new applicant for membership of an exclusive club was voted on by the committee or the members in a secret ballot. They each put a coloured ball in a bag. One black ball would result in exclusion.

To some extent, that system is still in use in licensing today, to judge from my postbag.

Both licensees and their legal representatives have revealed horror stories about how one single objector can cause havoc, ether with an application or with a persistent series of complaints to the council.

The problem is that where the complaint is not judged to be "frivolous or vexatious" it triggers a whole sequence of events that will cost the licensee time and money, whether he is ultimately successful or not. You cannot allow a hearing to go ahead in your absence, so you have to appear, instruct a solicitor and prepare evidence — then, on the day of the hearing, the objector fails to turn up!

There is nothing you can do. You cannot claim your costs and expenses from him. You have to rely on the committee listening to your representations and ruling against his objection. But in some cases the committee will use the objection as a green light for raising issues about your pub themselves.

They should not do this, of course, and an experienced solicitor will try to head this process off, but it can and does happen.

Imagine how much worse this will be if the changes to the Licensing Act either allowed public health as a licensing objective or allowed objections from anywhere in the country, not just in the licensing area or immediate vicinity. Objections on health grounds could be raised by any individual or pressure group, which would necessitate a hearing, even if there were no other objections from local residents, the police or environmental health. So every application on the licensing officer's desk would be followed by a 'standard' objection, which he or she could not ignore. A hearing would have to be arranged in every case, which would result in considerable extra expense to everyone concerned — except the objector.

This is the sort of detail that policy makers and those in the Home Office responsible for the re-drafting of the Act fail to appreciate. Tinkering with the Licensing Act always throws up operational difficulties. Let us hope they realise this in time.