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Environmental Services Licensing
The new Licensing Act 2003 transfers responsibility for licensing premises and persons selling alcohol from the courts to local authorities.
Local authorities will also continue to license premises providing entertainment and late night hot food and non-alcoholic drink but under the authority of this new Act - not the legislation we have been operating under.
After some delays in Parliament the Secretary of State announced a date from which current licences for the sale/provision of alcohol, provision of entertainment and provision of late night hot food and non-alcoholic drink, must be converted to the new "premises" licences required under the Act.
This date is 7 February 2005. All applications to convert licences, apply for "variations", such as extended operating hours, and apply for "personal licences" must be made within six months from then.
Under the new Act licensees are guaranteed to retain whatever licences they currently have when they apply to convert them to the new "premises" licences, unless the Police make an objection on very specific grounds stated in the Act.
However, if applications are also made to vary existing licences, for example to extend operating hours or to provide music and dancing, the applicants must advertise their applications and various bodies and individuals, including local residents, may lodge an objection if they have valid reasons.
A requirement of this new legislation is that all local authorities (or Licensing Authorities as they are known under the Act) must draft, consult on and publish a "Statement of Licensing Policy". The Statement of Licensing Policy must have regard to the content of a set of Guidance notes published by the Secretary of State.
We published our draft Statement of Licensing Policy on 19 July 2004 and it then went through a consultation exercise with local residents, businesses, licensees and other interested parties.
This consultation period closed on the 11 October 2004 and the Statement of Licensing Policy was amended where relevant in light of the responses to the consultation.
The revised version of the Statement of Licensing Policy went before the Full Council of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and was approved on the 01 December 2004.
It sets out how we plan to deal with applications made under the Act and balance people's desire for entertainment with residents' right to a peaceful nights sleep. The Act requires each Authority to review its Statement of Licensing Policy whenever necessary and, in any case, every three years. Read the Statement of Licensing Policy.
Both the Licensing Act 2003 and the Secretary of State's Guidance can be found at:
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