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Home Page > Business > Licensing > Licensing Act 2003

The Licensing Act 2003

The Act | Review Licensing Policy Consultation | TEN | Personal Licence | Complain About An Alcahol Licence

The Act 2003

From 24 November 2005 Local Authorities became responsible for personal and premises licences under the Licensing Act 2003. This Act covers the sale or supply of alcohol, the provision of hot food and drink after 11pm and the provision of regulated entertainment, which inlcudes live music, recorded music, exhibiting films, performances of plays and/or dance, indoor sports events and wrestling/boxing events.

The licences are:

Personal Licence

Premises Licence

Club Premises Certificate

Temporary Event Notice

THE STATEMENT OF LICENSING POLICY

The Statement of Licensing Policy was agreed by the Council in December 2004 and sets out the policies that the Council applies when granting licences. It was produced following extensive consultation with existing licence holders, businesses, residents, community groups and the emergency services. It is based on the licensing objectives, these are:

Prevention of crime and disorder
Promoting public safety
Prevention of public nuisance
Protection of children from harm

Section 5 of the Licensing Act 2003 requires that each licensing authority must prepare and publish a statement of its licensing policy every three years. Following consultation and considering the comments made the reviewed Statement of Licensing Policy was agreed by the Council in December 2007 and will come into force on 7 January 2008.

GUIDANCE FOR RESIDENTS

Maidstone Borough Council understands that many residents and businesses feel concerned about the effects of extended licensing hours and we are committed to addressing these concerns. Once the Council receives a valid application you have 28 days in which to make an objection. All objections must be received in writing and sent to the Senior Licensing Officer, Maidstone House, King Street, Maidstone, Kent ME15 6JQ.

Once a licence has been granted people who live or work in the vicinity of a premises may ask for a review of the licence if they feel they are being adversely affected by the operation of the licence.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further information is available on the DCMS website but if you need legal advice we would suggest you contact a specialist solicitor.

Temporary Event Notice (TEN)

The Licensing Act 2003 allows individuals to carry out licensable activities on a temporary basis (for a period not exceeding 96 hours). The event must also involve no more than 499 people at any one time being present (although more people may attend over the whole course of the event).

WHAT ARE LICENSABLE ACTIVITIES?

The following activities are licensable:

The retail sale of alcohol
The supply of alcohol by or on behalf of a club to, or to the order of, a member of the club;
The provision of regulated entertainment (see below)
The provision of late night refreshment, which is hot food or drink supplied between 11pm and 5am.

WHAT IS REGULATED ENTERTAINMENT?

Regulated entertainment is any event which takes place in front of an audience e.g:-

The performance of a play
The exhibition of a film
An indoor sporting event
Boxing or wrestling entertainment
Performance of live music
Playing of recorded music
Performance of dance
Facilities for making music, dancing and entertainment of a similar nature

PERMITTED LIMITS

Personal licence holders are permitted to hold 50 temporary events in one calendar year. Individuals who do not hold a Personal Licence are permitted to hold 5 temporary events, including those involving the sale of alcohol, in one calendar year.

FREQUENCY OF USE OF PREMISES

There must be a minimum period of 24 hours between temporary events held on the same premises by a premises user. This prevents an individual from holding numerous consecutive temporary events as a means of avoiding an application for a premises licence.

Similarly, only 12 Temporary Event Notices may be given for one premises in one calendar year and the total period allowed for temporary events on one premises over a year is 15 days.

HOW DO I APPLY FOR A TEMPORARY EVENT NOTICE?

Please download an application form and send two copies of the notice and the fee of £21 (cheques made payable to Maidstone Borough Council) per event to:-

Maidstone Borough Council

Licensing Team

Maidstone House

King Street

Maidstone

Kent

ME15 6JQ Tel: 01622 602255

At the same time you should send a copy of the TEN to the Police at:-

Maidstone & Malling Police

Licensing Team

Maidstone Police Station

Palace Avenue

Maidstone

Kent

ME15 6NF Tel: 01622 608162 (main switchboard)

Section 100(7) of the Licensing Act 2003 states the period for a Temporary Event Notice is "no later than ten working days before the day on which the event period begins". This means that the date of receipt by the Licensing Authority and the Police would be day 1 and 10 days must pass before the day on which the event starts.

"Working day" means any day other than a Saturday, a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a day which is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 (c.80) in England and Wales. (Licensing Act 2003 Section 193 Other Definitions).

Whilst Notices may be given only 10 working days before the event, the Council request that Notices be issued to the Council and Police at least 28 days prior to the event to enable the Council to deal with any issues in a timely manner.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

The Council will ensure that all infomation has been provided and check that a copy has been given to the Police. We will then acknowledge the receipt of your TEN by returning a signed copy to you. You must ensure that this is prominently displayed on or kept at the premises during the event.

The Police can object to your TEN if they consider that the event would undermine the Crime and Disorder Licensing Objective. They must give an "objection notice" within 48 hours of receiving a copy of the TEN.

Personal Licence

A personal licence is required by anyone who wishes to authorise the sale of alcohol at a licensed premises. Generally this will be the person(s) responsible for the day-to-day management of the premises and more than one individual at the premises may hold a personal licence. The personal licence is separate from the licence which authorises the premises to be used for the sale of alcohol.

The licensing of individuals separately from the licensing of premises permits the easy movement of personal licence holders from one set of premises to another. There is no need to notify the Council of this move unless the individual is or intends to be a Designated Premises Supervisor.

DESIGNATED PREMISES SUPERVISORS

If the sale of alcohol is to take place from a licensed premises the premises licence must name a designated premises supervisor. This individual must be a personal licence holder and is the person identified as the first point of contact regarding the management of the premises. The person will normally have been given day-to-day responsibility for running the premises.

If the designated premises supervisor changes, an application to vary the DPS accordingly must be submitted to the Council by the premises licence holder.

APPLYING FOR A PERSONAL LICENCE

Please download the application form and return it fully completed with:-

Two endorsed passport sized photographs
A CRB certificate which is no more than one month old
Disclosure of convictions and declarations form
An accredited personal licence qualification
Payment of Fee £37 (cheques made payable to Maidstone Borough Council)

You must be over the age of 18 and apply to the Council for the area in which you live. This will remain the Council's responsibility to licence you, even if you move away from the area.

Personal Licences will be valid for 10 years. There will be various duties on holders of Personal Licences and the court can forfiet their licence if they are convicted of any relevant offences.

See below for more forms and guidance notes:

Licence Act 2003 fee levels (cheques made payable to Maidstone Borough Council)

For Premises Licence application forms, information and guidance please follow me.

Club Premises Certificate

The Club Premises Certificate allows the carry on of activities from premises to which public access is restricted and alcohol is supplied other than for profit. For these reasons the Act preserves aspects of earlier alcohol licensing law which applied to 'registered members clubs' and affords clubs special treatment outside the normal premises licence arrangements. There is no requirement for a qualifying club to have a designated premises supervisor or personal licence holder.

Clubs which meet specified criteria set out in the Act are known as 'qualifying clubs' and the authority under which they may supply alcohol and conduct other 'qualifying club activities' from their premises is a club premises certificate issued by the licensing authority.

Definition of a Club

A club premises certificate is only for use by qualifying clubs. A number of criteria must be met to be considered a qualifying club. These are:

1. that, under the rules of the club, persons may not be admitted to membership to any of the privileges of membership without an interval of at least two days between their nomination for membership and their admission;

2. that the club is established and conducted in good faith as a club;

3. that the club has at least 25 members;

4. that alcohol is not supplied to members on the premises otherwise than by or on behalf of the club.

Please download an application form and return it fully completed with the Declaration for A Club Premises Certificate.

See below for more forms and guidance notes:

Advice for Club Premises Certificates

Responsible Authorities List

Newspaper Contacts

Confirmation of Advertisement

Advice Sheet for Plans

Licensing Objectives

Licence Act 2003 Fee Levels (cheques made payable to Maidstone Borough Council)