New premises licence and club premises certificate applications

In April 2012, the Home Office made amendments to the Licensing Act 2003 by virtue of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.

One of the amendments was the removal of the vicinity test when making a representation against an application for a new premises licence or a variation of an existing premises licence. This change in the law now allows representations to be made by any individual, body or business, which has grounds to do so. This removes the requirement whereby a representation must come from a person or business within a prescribed distance from the premises submitting the application.

Representations can also be made by one or more of the Responsible Authorities. Before you make a representation you may wish to contact the relevant Responsible Authority to discuss your concerns.

All licence applications in consultation are listed and published above.

Here you will find:

• the type of application (new or variation)
• the applicants name
• the address of the premises
• the date that representations must be made by (the consultation period)

For a representation to be relevant it must relate to one or more of the four Licensing Objectives:

• prevention of crime and disorder
• public safety
• prevention of public nuisance
• protection of children from harm

A representation must be relevant. A representation is relevant if it relates to the likely effect of the grant of the licence on the promotion of at least one of the licensing objectives.

Representations must relate to the impact of licensable activities carried on from the premises on one or more of the four licensing objectives.

For representations in relation to variations to be relevant, they should be confined to the subject matter of the variation.

The decision on whether to grant an application, refuse it or allow it subject to conditions will be based solely on these grounds. Other matters such as moral objections, that there are too many similar premises or a simple dislike of the proposals cannot be considered.

Representations must be balanced and proportionate and must not be frivolous or vexatious. The licensing authority will consider the main effect of the representation and whether any inconvenience or expense caused by it could reasonably be considered to be proportionate.

A representation may be considered to be vexatious if it appears to be intended to cause aggravation or annoyance, whether to a competitor or other person, without reasonable cause or justification.

Frivolous representations would be essentially categorised by a lack of seriousness. Frivolous representations would concern issues which, at most, are minor and in relation to which no remedial steps would be warranted or proportionate.

The licensing authority must not take decisions about whether representations are frivolous, vexatious or relevant to the licensing objectives on the basis of any political judgement.

All licensing determinations should be considered on a case by case basis. They should take into account any representations or objections that have been received from responsible authorities or other persons, and representations made by the applicant or premises user as the case may be.

The authority's determination should be evidence based, justified as being appropriate for the promotion of the licensing objectives and proportionate to what it is intended to achieve.

It is important that you provide as much evidence as possible when submitting your representation. Evidence is what you can demonstrate to be the case, not simply what you fear might happen.

• representations must be made clearly in writing stating the reasons for objection
• they must relate to at least one of the four licensing objectives
• it must be specific to the premises and the application
• it must include your name and address
• in relation to Licence variations it must only relate to the variation and not the existing licence
• it must be submitted within the legal consultation period (this will be printed on the blue notices outside the premises and can also be found on our website).

The Licensing Authority will accept petitions, but there are some important factors to consider before organising a petition:

• we ask that the instigator of the petition identifies themselves as a central point of contact. We may need to make contact in order to verify certain matters and if we are unable to do this it could invalidate the petition.
• each page of the petition should contain information as to the purpose of the petition so that all persons know what they are signing.
• full names and addresses must be supplied.
• all signatories must be made aware that a copy of the petition will be supplied to the applicant and a copy will be contained within the committee papers, so their personal details will become public knowledge.

We will not write to each signatory separately, but instead assume that the instigator will advise each signatory of the hearing date and the final outcome of the application. It is expected that the instigator will represent the signatories at the hearing and to speak for them.

Once a representation is made the licensing authority will decide whether it is a relevant representation or not. If the representation does not relate to the four licensing objectives or if it is frivolous or vexatious it will be rejected and the person who made the representation will be informed why it has been rejected.

If the representation is deemed relevant, the application for the premises licence or the variation of a premises licence will be determined by the licensing committee or sub-committee at a hearing.

Where a notice of a hearing is given to an applicant, the licensing authority is required under the Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005 to provide the applicant with copies of the relevant representations that have been made.

The applicant may take into the consideration the representations and offer to negotiate with you to resolve your concerns. If the person or body making the representation accepts this, they can withdraw the representation. Representation must be withdrawn 24 hours before the first day of any hearing.

Yes, but they will need to specifically authorise someone to act on their behalf. Someone making a representation could ask, for example, a legal representative or friend to act on their behalf. Please note that the representative will act as an advocate for the person who made the representation - they can only present and explain the representation and will not be able to present their own views on the application or add matters not referred to in the representation.

Representations can be sent by email to the Licensing team at publicprotectionnorth@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window). Alternatively they can also be sent by mail to:

The Licensing Officer
Wiltshire Council
Public Protection
County Hall
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
BA14 8JN

Any representations received after the consultation period cannot be considered.