A House of Lords committee has published its recommendations for the first overhaul of the “fundamentally flawed” Licensing Act in 11 years.
The committee has suggested:
- · Scrapping licensing committees and integrating their responsibilities with planning committees
- · Setting licensing fees locally, not nationally
- · Repealing Late Night Levies and the as-yet unused Early Morning Restriction Orders
- · Introducing Minimum Unit Pricing if it proves to be a success when implemented in Scotland
- · Bringing in a full ‘agent of change’ principle to ensure new developments take full account of existing licensed premises during planning
- · To enforce the licensing act for airside operations as well as other parts of airports
- · The committee also said it did not believe the promotion of health and wellbeing should be a licensing objective
The report has been broadly welcomed by trade bodes, although there was concern around the potential unintended consequences of merging licensing and planning and called for a national cap if licensing fees are to be set locally.
Chairman of the House of Lords Select Committee on the Licensing Act 2003, Baroness McIntosh of Pickering, said: “The Act is fundamentally flawed and needs a major overhaul. It was a mistake and a missed opportunity to set up new licensing committees when the planning system was already available to regulate the use of land for many different purposes. The planning system is well suited to dealing with licensing applications and appeals, and the interests of residents are always taken into account.
“The Committee was shocked by some of the evidence it received on hearings before licensing committees. Their decisions have been described as “something of a lottery”, “lacking formality”, and “indifferent”, with some “scandalous misuses of the powers of elected local councillors”.
“We cannot understand why the Government has decided not to apply the Act to sales at airports. This can lead to dangerous situations, and must be changed.
“Pubs, clubs and live music venues are a vital part of our cultural identity. Any decline in our cities’ world-famous night life ought to be prevented and the businesses supported. But the night time economy needs regulating; even in these areas of cities, residents have their rights. The current systems are not being used because they do not work.”
Recommendations:
The report was damning of the current process for deciding licensing applications at a local level, saying there was “no logical reason” why licensing functions should have needed a separate body to adjudicate on them and bemoaning the lack of consistency in councillors’ skills across the country. The report said co-ordination between the licensing and planning systems should begin immediately and that pilot areas should be identified to trial merged responsibilities.
The committee said it had heard evidence both for and against locally set fees but that as fees were designed to cover the cost of administering the act, which varied from place to place, this should be reflected.
It set out a series of reforms to ensure councillors are fully qualified for their roles, saying there should be a national minimum standard for training. It also suggests a comprehensive police licensing officer training programme be brought on board.
On Temporary Event Notices, the committee warned against allowing an element of direct consultation with residents but did recommend that licensing authorities be given the power to object as well as police and environmental health officers.
On Minimum Unit Pricing, the report admitted that a definitive assessment of how successful the measure had been be in Scotland could not be taken until five years after it was implemented, it did “not make sense for a decision for England and Wales to be postponed indefinitely”. It said UK ministers must be guided by Scotland but also said that “the Government should look at other ways in which taxation and pricing can be used to control excessive consumption”.
Reaction:
Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers chief executive Kate Nicholls said: “The Lords Committee has gained an accurate insight into the flaws of local committees and the analysis of the problem, but some of the recommendations need further consideration. Licensing is the very cornerstone of licensed operators’ business viability, and should appropriately be accorded a quasi judicial status. A better understanding of licensing can be achieved through improved training of licensing officers. At present there is too much variation in how applicants are treated; the sector needs closer standardisation.
“Licensing and planning are very separate issues, albeit both crucial to operators, and should be treated separately. Without standardisation and more detailed regulation of hearings, we would be better off handing these matters back to Magistrates.
“Currently, businesses bear the brunt of a quasi judicial process and that all too often doesn’t deliver on the standards that committed businesses deserve in return for the investment, efforts, jobs and social benefit that pubs and restaurants provide.
“We have long been stating that late-night levies and EMROs increase financial pressure on hardworking venues, undermine investment and could potentially put jobs at risk. They are blunt tools, ineffective for promoting healthier attitudes to alcohol and ill-equipped to tackle any perceived areas of harm.”
On reform to licensing fees, Nicholls said: “While locally set fees could work, there would need to be a national framework to provide consistency, fairness and transparency.”
Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said: “I very much welcome the Committee’s statement that “pubs, clubs and live music venues are a vital part of our cultural identity. Any decline in our cities’ world-famous night life ought to be prevented and the businesses supported.
“I also welcome the Committee’s opposition to making public health a licencing objective. The licensing process wasn’t designed for such a broad purpose, and should instead focus on individual venues.
“For similar reasons, the rejection of Group Review Intervention Powers is also welcome, as we don’t believe blanket conditions on all premises in an area are appropriate - the focus should remain in tackling problems at specific premises.”
On the proposed abolition of the Late Night Levy, she said: “This key recommendation has our full support. Where introduced, Late Night Levies have proved to be a damaging new tax on local businesses. Few local authorities have taken them up, and Cheltenham recently became the first council to abolish its levy in favour of a Business Improvement District (BID).
“Partnership working, between the police, local councils and local businesses, is the best way to tackle any problems in the night-time economy; this is an approach we have consistently championed. It’s welcome, therefore, to see the report recommending that Local Authorities give serious consideration to implementing BID schemes.
“For the same reason, we welcome the call to abolish Early Morning Restriction Orders as not a single local authority has taken them up.”
On the recommendation to scrap local authority licensing committees, Simmonds said: “I welcome the committee’s highlighting of bad practice, but this could persist if licensing were transferred to Planning committees. Local authorities need clearer guidance and councillors need better training, so that they can consider key licensing decisions in the fairest and most effective way possible. I very much welcome the call for greater co-ordination within local authorities, and for training to be mandatory.”
On the sale of alcohol at airports, she said: “Airports are treated differently, but the industry works in partnership with the police and airport authorities to tackle any problems. We would be happy to review these arrangements and extend them where necessary, but the current penalties for passengers who cause flight disruption are rightly severe.”
On locally set licensing fees, she said: “This would be a concern, as there would be a temptation for local councils to ‘gold plate’ their own licencing regimes at the expense of small local businesses. We would need a national cap on fees, and we would also certainly need a level playing field for on-trade and off-trade retailers.
“Large on-trade retailers in the higher fee band often have to pay a supplement to their licensing fees, but larger off-trade retailers do not. The system could work more fairly, to reflect the increasing share of alcohol sales in the off trade.”
The report also paints a picture of the outlets for sale of alcohol, as of 31 March 2016:
There were 210,000 premises licences, an increase of 3% (5,500) compared with March 2014, in line with the broadly increasing trend seen since March 2010 when there were 202,000 premises licences. Of these, 18% were licensed only for on-sales of alcohol, 27% only for off-sales, and 38% for both on-and off-sales. 16% are not licensed to sell alcohol at all (and so were licensed only for late night refreshment).
There were 86,500 premises licences with night refreshment. Fewer than 20,000 of these were licensed only for late night refreshment (and so not also for the sale of alcohol). Whilst there was no consistent trend between 2010 and 2016, the total figure represented a decrease of 0.1% (100) compared with March 2014 and an increase of 2% (1,600) compared with March 2010. The number of premises licences with late night refreshment made up 41% of the total number of premises licences.
There were 8,300 premises with 24-hour alcohol licences. Since March 2010 there had been an increase of 6% (500); however, the number of premises with 24-hour alcohol licences had remained steady since March 2012, ranging between 8,200 and 8,400. Of these, 43% were for hotel bars, 15% for large supermarkets, 17% for other convenience stores, and 11% for pubs, bars and night clubs.
There were 14,700 club premises certificates, a decrease of 5% (700) compared with March 2014 and continued the decline seen since March 2010 when there were 17,000 certificates.
There were 646,500 personal licences, an 11% increase (63,000) compared with March 2014. This continued the increasing trend seen since March 2010 when the figure was 434,200 licences, and is probably accounted for by the fact that personal licences no longer have to be surrendered.
