The government's wholesale reform of licensing legislation has finally gone forward for Royal Assent, having been passed by Parliament on 8 July 2003.
Promoted by the Department for Culture Media and Sport as providing the correct balance between deregulation and providing protection for local residents and communities, the Licensing Act 2003 comes in at a whopping 170 pages. This is before any of the vast number of statutory instruments have even been drafted that have to be passed to bring the Act into force. This is before any vast number of statutory instruments that have to be passed to bring the Act into force have even been drafted.
The Act unifies the six existing (and some would say competing) licensing regimes relating to the sale of alcohol, public entertainment, cinemas, theatres, late night refreshment houses and night cafes into a single integrated scheme. Premises licences will be granted in respect of premises used for licensable activities and incorporate the licensing operating conditions which will be determined in accordance with the operating plans submitted by the prospective licensee. Personal licences will allow licence holders to sell or supply alcohol on or off any premises and are now valid for 10 years. The sale must be monitored by a Designated Premises Supervisor. Responsibility for all licensing will now be vested in local authorities who must publish a 3 year licensing policy for their area after having consulted extensively.
As part of the transitional provisions all existing licences will need to be converted into the new licences within 6 months of the Act "going live", which is thought to be spring/summer of 2004. It is anticipated that a lot of licence holders will take the opportunity to vary their existing licences as part of this process, so this will be a busy time. It is essential that anyone with a current licence deals with the conversion in plenty of time. Many of you will be affected - cinema and theatre operators, publicans and indeed anyone with a licence to sell alcohol, restauranteurs and even developers undertaking site assembly with provisional licences.
We will continue to monitor the guidelines and regulations as they are produced and will provide further details as they appear.
