Licensing Act 2003

	Safety and Licensing
	Torbay Council
	Roebuck House Abbey Road Torquay TQ2 5TF
	licensing @torbay.gov.uk
	01803 208126
	01803 208854
	Additional Contact Details

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Licensing Act 2003 - FAQs

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Introduction

The Licensing Act 2003 came into force in November 2005. This Act effectively set up an entirely new licensing regime by which any premises offering:

The sale of alcohol (or supplying to Members of a Registered Club)
Cinema, Theatre and Music, Singing, Dancing or similar entertainment
Exhibitions of Indoor Sporting Events (and boxing and wrestling outdoors)
Hot food and/or hot drink after 11 pm and before 5 am

will require a Premises Licence. In addition, where the sale of alcohol is involved, a Personal Licence will be required by the person designated to be in charge of those premises. There is also requirements for Members Clubs to obtain appropriate Club Premises Certificates. Please note that premises will include vehicles, vessels and moveable stalls. All licences are issued by Torbay Council.

Premises Licence holders, may apply to vary their licences, transfer them to someone new, or to change the Designated Premises Supervisor. There is no annual renewal, but there is an annual fee.

Personal Licence holders have a licence for ten years. They are renewed every ten years by the authority who originally issued the licence even if you have moved. They are transferable between businesses.

All licence holders, need to advise the licensing authority of any changes of details including changes of address, in the case of company names or if personal licence holders move. These all incur a small administrative fee.

Information on making applications can be found in the document below, a “Guide for Applying for a Licence”. This will advise you on which application forms to download from the list to the right hand side of the page. Otherwise ring the Licensing Team.

Licensing Policy

Torbay Council’s Licensing Policy is a legal requirement that has to be written or reviewed every three years. This has just been renewed with a new document being published on 7 January 2008. Copies of the Policy and support information are available to download (see related documents) or from Connections offices and Roebuck House.

Help on making applications or variations to Licences

If you are unsure if you have to make an application, then it may be helpful to read the frequently asked questions about the Licensing Act.

In addition the Guide on related documents will advise you on the process on making applications or variations to Premises Licences and Club Premises Certificates, as well as Personal Licences. The Guide will list the forms that you need to complete. We hope to soon update the website with new explanations of filling in the more complex application forms, which should be used in conjunction with the Guide.

We have two new “Help to complete” application forms, which should be used in conjunction with the Guide.

When making an application or varying a Premises Licence or Club premises Certificate, the applicant needs to complete five boxes, to include conditions on how they will meet the Licensing Objectives. There is more information in the Guide on this, but importantly the model conditions document will give you examples of conditions you may wish to use. Please refer to related documents below for Model Conditions..

If further help is required then please talk to an officer at the Licensing Team on 01803 208126.

Temporary Event Notices (TEN’s)

This allows individuals to apply for temporary events, without the need to hold a Premises Licence or a Club Premises Certificate for the premises. There are restrictions, in so much that there can be only 12 TEN’s applied for any premises, covering a maximum of 15 days. If you hold a Personal Licence you can apply for up to 50 a year, though not all at the same location, while Non-Personal Licence holders can only apply for 5 per year. The maximum number of people who can attend is 499, and there must be at least 24 hours between events.

The application must be sent to and arrive at Torbay Licensing Offices at least 10 working days before the event, but you cannot include the day of service or the day of the event, so we recommend 12 working days before the event, to avoid disappointment. A copy must arrive at Police Licensing at the same time to be sure of being able to hold the event. The fee is £21, which must accompany the application form to the Council. This is the law, so we are unable to vary from these requirements.

The application form and additional information are available for down load forms on the right hand side of the Webpage on the Do It Online panel.

Review of Premises Licence and Club Premises Certificates

A review of a Premises Licence or a Club Premises Certificate can be instigated by a responsible authority, i.e. Police, Child Protection, Environmental Protection Team, or by an ‘interested party’. An ‘interested party’ is someone who lives sufficiently close to affect by the premises, but it must relate to one of the Licensing Objectives, i.e. public nuisance, crime and disorder, public safety or protection of children.

There are clear procedures to be followed and there must be evidence available. For more information refer to related documents below.

Public Register

Information on all licences issued under the Licensing Act, including times, types of entertainment and associated conditions are available. See top left of this webpage for access into the register.

Important Information On Personal Licences

Details of those bodies which are accredited to award licensing qualifications are available on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport website. Details of the BIIAB qualification can be found on their website (see right hand column), or alternatively you may wish to contact them on Tel 01276 684449. Enquiries about the GOAL qualification can be made to customerservice@ediplc.com, or telephone 08707 202909.

Newsletters

Periodically the Licensing Team will be producing Newsletters, which we send to all licence holders (Premises and Clubs). Copies of these are available for download from the related documents section below.

Noise Advice Document

The Environmental Protection team have written a document to help give advice on noise control measures. A copy of this is available for download from the related documents section below.