Monday 22 August 2011

Licensing again


 The cafe culture HMG thougth we'd get  after in 2003.  Didn't happen.  Instead we ended up with City centres as no-go areas.


Through the National Organisation of Residents' Associations,   I've been notified of more stuff from HMG about Licensing. there was a consultation process a while ago .  The latest document has  the snazzy title of

Impact Assessment for the alcohol measures in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill and has a fair bit of stuff in it.
Some things that I noticed
Local Authorities must promote licensing objectives
• the prevention of crime and disorder;
• public safety;
• the prevention of public nuisance; and
• the protection of children from harm.

So nothing about public health there then. 

A licensing application goes for consultations and the Authority can receive representations from interested parties . Interested parties are Responsible Authorities (police , Environmental Health etc ) , members of the public and businesses that may be affected by the new license.

Currently, if no representations are received, licensing authorities must grant the application. The proposal is for this to change so the Licensing Authority can refuse off their own bat  - they dont need to have 'representations' from anyone


Other proposed changes :
  • They can charge a Late Night Levy or late licences to cover the cost of policing.
  •  Early Morning Restriction Orders (ie banning alcohol sales) apply currently between 3am and 6 am . This will be extended to midnight to 6am 
Overall , a 'good thing' . Shame about the public health imperative though.

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