WIREDGOV

Responding to a report by the Institute of Alcohol Studies on the Licensing Act, Cllr Tony Page, Licensing spokesman at the Local Government Association, said: "The LGA has long argued that locally set licensing fees will enable councils to recover the cost of applications better and it is encouraging that the report recognises that this issue must be resolved.

"While councils do not shrink from fighting legal appeals, there is no doubt that there is sometimes an imbalance in the resources available to councils and the trade when approaching legal hearings. This is not helped by the fact that councils are already subsidising the licensed trade because current fee levels, set way back in 2005, are too low compared with the costs of running the system. "This report also follows calls by councils for greater powers to limit the opening of late-night premises where there are concerns about the impact of alcohol on public health.

"Nine out of 10 Directors of Public Health say adding a public health objective to the Licensing Act would help them do their jobs more effectively by helping curb the saturation of communities with pubs, clubs and off-licences selling alcohol.

"Public health funding issues make it even more important for government to ensure local authorities have the same powers as those in Scotland which have been able to consider all health implications - such as hospital admissions and local addiction levels - in relation to licensing applications since 2005.

"Giving councils new powers to refuse licence applications on health grounds where there are grounds to do so will also save money from the public purse by reducing NHS costs dealing with alcohol-related issues."

View report:

http://www.ias.org.uk/uploads/pdf/IAS%20reports/rp22032016.pdf

Notes

1. An LGA survey published in February 2016 revealed that nine out of ten (89 per cent) Directors of Public Health said there was a demand within their councils to have a public health objective within the Licensing Act. Eighty-nine per cent of Directors also said the ability of to deliver effective public health would be improved ‘to a great extent' or ‘to a moderate extent' by the introduction of public health licensing objective.