Licensing Act Reviews
What is a review?
A review is an application to the Council to consider whether a particular premises is being conducted in accordance with their licence and the terms of the Licensing Act 2003, and to consider taking appropriate action.
A review does not necessarily need to be the first stage in taking action to deal with concerns about licensed premises. Anyone with concerns about such premises can consider whether these could be dealt with by any other means, for example:
- Asking the premises licence holder or club secretary to take steps to rectify the situation.
- Asking the relevant responsible authority whether there is other legislation which could be used to solve the problem. For instance, the Environmental Health Officer may be able to help deal with noise nuisance or the Police may be able to help in cases of crime and disorder at licensed premises.
Who can make an application for review?
Under the Licensing Act 2003 only interested parties (persons living in or with businesses in the vicinity) or responsible authorities can make an application for review of a club premises certificate. Only interested parties, responsible authorities or members of the club can apply for review of a club premises certificate. Applications for review are in the public domain and form part of the published licensing register.
Who are interested parties?
An interested party is:
- A person living in the vicinity of the premises.
- A body representing persons that live in the vicinity, e.g. a residents association.
- A person involved in a business in that vicinity.
- A body representing persons involved in such businesses, e.g. a trade association.
What does “in the vicinity” mean?
The Licensing Act 2003 does not provide a definition of “in the vicinity”. However when making a decision as to whether an individual or body qualifies as an interested party, the Council will consider, e.g. whether their home or business is likely to be directly affected by disorder and disturbance occurring or potentially occurring from either inside or immediately outside the premises for which an application is being made.
What can responsible authorities and interested parties make applications for review about?
Only review applications that relate to at least one of the four licensing objectives can be considered. The licensing objectives are:
- The Prevention of Crime and Disorder
- Public Safety
- The Prevention of Public Nuisance
- The Protection of Children from Harm
Review applications must clearly relate to the premises for which the review application is being made. For example, representations on the basis of general noise and disturbance, without evidence of a casual link to a specific premises, are unlikely to be persuasive.
What does an applicant for review need to do?
The applicant for review must complete the prescribed form in full and serve the original on the District Council, with copies to each of the responsible authorities and on the holder of the premises licence or club secretary.
Will every review application be considered?
If the review application is otherwise valid, the District Council is obliged to consider whether the review is frivolous, vexatious or repetitious.
- Frivolous
As a general rule, frivolous representations are likely to lack seriousness. This does not mean that a trivial complaint would always be considered frivolous, but it must be serious and of some substance; it must also relate to one or more of the licensing objectives.
- Vexatious
Vexatious representations may arise because of disputes between rival businesses.
- Repetitious
A review application will be repetitious if it is identical or substantially similar to a ground of a previous review or representation on an application for the same premises, and a reasonable interval has not elapsed since the previous consideration by the District Council. Statutory guidance suggests that 12 months may be a “reasonable interval” in most circumstances.
If a review application is declared frivolous, vexatious or repetitious, the application will be rejected and the applicant will be notified of the reasons for the decision. The legislation does not provide any right of appeal against such a decision, other than by way of application for judicial review to the High Court.
What happens if the review application is valid?
The District Council will arrange for the display of a notice of the application for review on or adjacent to the premises, at Council House, Saltergate, Chesterfield and/or any of the Council’s sub offices for a period of 28 days (7 days if the review follows a closure by the Police), during which any responsible authority or interested party may make a representation about the application.
Can representations be made to every application?
Yes, provided those making representations are either responsible authorities or interested parties. Representations that are irrelevant, frivolous or vexatious must be disregarded so, on receipt, the Licensing Team will check that the representations can be considered. In border line cases the representations will be placed before the Licensing Sub-Committee, who may choose not to consider them.
Petitions
Petitions in relation to review applications are unlikely to be acceptable unless every page clearly shows the reasons for the petition and each petitioner gives their name, address and signature.
Who should representations be sent to?
They should be sent to the Licensing Team (details at bottom of page). The Licensing Team must receive representations no later than the last date specified in the notice of application, as the Licensing Act 2003 does not allow the Council to consider late representations.
What happens when representations are relevant?
A copy of the representations will be sent to the applicant and arrangements will be made for the Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee to hear the application for review and the representations made to it. Hearings will take place in public, although the Sub-Committee may, in certain instances, decide that it is in the best interest of the public to hold hearings in private.
The details of all representations (including the interested parties’ names and addresses) will be included in a report that the Licensing Team will prepare for the hearing. These reports are public documents and the District Council is required to publish them.
Interested parties will be invited to attend the hearing, as will the applicant and any responsible authorities that have made representations. Any party may be assisted or represented by any person at the hearing regardless of whether that person is legally qualified.
The Licensing Team will notify all parties concerned of the date and time of the hearing and provide details of the procedure to be followed at the hearing.
At the hearing, the legislation allows the Sub-Committee to take one or more of the following steps:
- to take no further action;
- to modify the conditions of the licence;
- to exclude a licensable activity from the scope of the licence;
- to remove the Designated Premises Supervisor;
- to suspend the licence for a period not exceeding three months;
- to revoke the licence.
Can responsible authorities and interested parties be represented at the hearing?
Yes, but they will need to specifically authorise someone to act on their behalf. An interested party could ask, for example, a legal representative or friend, to act on their behalf.
Is a hearing always required?
No, it is possible for all parties to agree that a hearing is unnecessary. In such instances, and subject to the Council also agreeing that a hearing is not required, the matter will be dealt with by the officers or, exceptionally, the Licensing Sub-Committee will decide the application on the basis of a written report only.
Can representations be withdrawn?
Yes, by giving notice to the Licensing Team no later than 24 hours before the day of the hearing or in person at the hearing.
Who makes the decision?
The Licensing Committee is made up of 15 elected Members of the Council and the Licensing Sub-Committee will comprise of any three of those Members. None of these may represent ward in which the premises in question is situated.
What can the applicant for review, licence holder, responsible authorities and interested parties do if they are unhappy with the decision of the Sub-Committee?
They can appeal direct to the North East Derbyshire and Dales Magistrates’ Court within 21 days of the decision of the Sub-Committee. Anyone considering an appeal is strongly advised to take professional legal advice prior to commencing on this potentially costly course of action.
The North East Derbyshire and Dales Magistrates’ Court address is:
The Court House, Tapton Lane, Chesterfield, S41 7TW
Further guidance on reviews is also available from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport
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