14 April 2006
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has said it will act on businesses' criticisms of the new local authority licensing regime – but only when the police and residents have had their say.
DCMS officials this week told Public Finance they would publish two sets of suggested new guidance on the Licensing Act 2003 before the summer parliamentary recess, after bar owners reported that the new system was hastily arranged and expensive.
The experiences of licensees were laid bare in a report by the government's Better Regulation Commission, Whitehall's legislation watchdog, published on April 10.
BRC officials reported that 'while a majority of stakeholders we consulted agreed that the idea behind the reforms was good, they thought that the implementation had been badly handled.
'The application process was inconvenient and costly for many licensees. Important information was not available when it was needed, consultation was inadequate and the timetables too challenging,' their study states.
The 2003 Act was controversial because it allowed 24-hour drinking, but also drew criticism from councils and the police over the cost and potential antisocial effects of the change.
The legislation was tested in the High Court this week, when pub chain JD Wetherspoon attempted to block Guildford Borough Council's decision to refuse an extended licence in order to tackle binge drinking in local troublespots. That option was built into the new law by ministers following police concerns, and the rule was upheld by the High Court on April 11.
However, the BRC report sympathised with other concerns raised by businesses. The watchdog said there was a 'strong case' for small businesses that rarely deliver or sell alcohol, such as florists, to be exempt from parts of the new regime.
A DCMS spokeswoman told PF that ministers were sympathetic towards claims that the new legislation was 'initially costly' and 'complicated', but said that once the system was embedded the process would stabilise and become cheaper to operate.
'We intend to publish two new sets of consultative guidance prior to the summer recess, with a view to final guidance being published in the autumn.'
Ten 'representative' councils, including many with large city centres and police concerns over binge-drinkers and violence, were also being consulted, she added.
PFapr2006
