Wired-GOV Newswire (news from other organisations)
 Printable version
|
LGA responds to call for council licensing committees to be scrapped
Cllr Chris Pillai, Licensing spokesperson for Local Government Association, responds to a recommendation by the House of Lords Select Committee for council licensing committees to be scrapped, and their work done by planning committees instead.
"The recommendation to scrap council licensing committees is unnecessary and ill-advised and does not take into account the fact that those most involved in working with the Act do not want to see further major upheaval of the system.
"Figures from 2016 show that of the more than 21,000 licence applications made to council licensing committees, less than 1 per cent were challenged. This reflects the fairness and sound basis licensing committees are using to make their decisions.
"It will always be possible in any system to pull out examples where things haven't worked as well as they should have, and we agree that there is scope for the planning and licensing frameworks to link together more closely. However, putting planning committees in charge of licensing decisions will not tackle current flaws in the Licensing Act, and completely fails to take account of the pressures the planning system is also under.
"It is disappointing that the Committee has not recommended that the Act should be amended to include a public health objective to help councils protect their communities better. Nearly 90 per cent of Directors of Public Health support such an inclusion, which would help councils take health issues into account in licensing decisions.
"We disagree that the Late Night Levy should be scrapped as it has helped to address the shortfall in income that otherwise prevents councils from putting innovative ideas into practice. We would urge more time to be given to consider the effectiveness of late night levies applied to premises in more localised "hotspots", rather than across whole local authority areas.
"Nationally-set licensing fees have forced councils to subsidise this work by £10.3 million a year, and we support the recommendation to set fees locally.
"With many councils already making use of more scope to use licensing policy to shape local areas, no legislative change is needed. Licensing and planning are fundamentally different functions which should remain separate."
View report here
Notes to editors:
A Local Government Association survey of all 130 Directors of Public Health in England carried out between December 2015 and January 2016 showed that 89 per cent of Directors 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.
