Appendix A
NORTH NORFOLK DISTRICT COUNCIL
Alcohol and Entertainment Licensing
Report on the Licensing Act 2003
For 2011/2012
Prepared by: Chris Cawley (Licensing Manager)
Authorised by: Steve Hems (Head of Environmental Health)
November 2012
Licensing Team 01263 516189
Environmental Health Department
Council Offices licensing@north-norfolk.gov.uk
Holt Road
Cromer www.northnorfolk.org
NR27 9EN
1
Introduction
As in previous years this report is intended to give an overview of the impact of the Act and
licenced premises in North Norfolk over the past year 2011/12. North Norfolk District Council
has been the licensing authority for alcohol and regulated entertainment licences in North
Norfolk since November 2005
2
2.1
Licences in North Norfolk
Licence Transaction Processing
The Councils Licensing web pages are fairly comprehensive and regularly updated to facilitate
self-help with licensing issues. The register of licensed premises on the website gives a
comprehensive summary of the licences.
As in previous years the vast majority of applications for new licences and variations to existing
licences during the period have been unopposed and issued by officers under delegated
authority. The 5 opposed cases have been considered at Licensing Sub-Committee hearings.
Applications for new Personal Licences, changes of address, replacement licences etc continue
to be processed. Since Personal Licences are held in the District in which they were first issued
(irrespective of the present residence or workplace of the holder) although there are 1481
Personal Licences on the register this does not reflect the current Personal Licence holders
resident or active in the District.
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2.2
Profile of Licensed Premises
Total number of Licenced premises
Licenced to sell alcohol
Licenced for regulated entertainment
Licenced to serve late night refreshment
Licensed to trade 24/7
Nov 2011
Nov 2012
number
% of
number % of
total
total
560
100
567
100
540
96
488
86
379
68
351
62
196
35
187
33
207
37
208
37
2.3 Resource and Revenue aspects
Given the increasing demands from other aspects of licensing the proportion of time and
resource available for alcohol and entertainment licensing processing has come under
increasing pressure over the past year. Improvements to the service and efficiency savings
have been made where possible by the licensing team and customer services officers in the
Council. Relatively few licensing transactions are applied for on line but this may change in
future following recent development of the Government electronic licensing portal. It is no
longer necessary for applicants to register with businesslink before using the portal.
Revenue income has been collected during licence processing according to the fees set by
Central Government. In addition licensed premises pay an annual fee for every year in which
the premises licence continues in force. These fees have not changed since the Act was first
introduced in 2005. It is anticipated that changes in the law will enable local authorities to set
these fees from 2013. Now that failure to pay annual fees can result in licence suspension
action is being taken to chase outstanding premises licence holders using this sanction.
3 Licensing Policy and impact
The District Council reviewed and updated its Licensing Policy in December 2010 and all
applications received have been processed in accordance with that Policy. The Licensing Act
2003 was based on four principle points and the impact of licensed premises in North Norfolk
has been assessed according to these principles namely:• The prevention of crime and disorder.
• The prevention of public nuisance.
• The protection of the public.
• The protection of children from harm.
3.1 The prevention of crime and disorder
Incidents of crime and disorder associated with licensed premises continue to be related to a
relatively few venues in the towns. As in previous years more incidents are related to
consumption of alcohol at home or in public open spaces (which has been bought sometime
previously) prior to individuals visiting on-licence establishments.
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3.2 The protection of the public
There have been no general safety complaints relating to safety at licensed premises in the
period. Safety inspections of premises on a risk assessed basis have continued to be
undertaken by officers of the Environmental Health Commercial Team. Officers of the Fire
Service have also made inspections but, given changes in fire safety law, permitted numbers
and other aspects of fire Safety are not primarily dealt with under the provisions of the
Licensing Act.
The range and variety of outdoor events held across the District continues to develop as does
the type and frequency of entertainment on offer. Many of these events (noticeably firework
displays) are not licensable. Monitoring of public events generally is now being undertaken by
the North Norfolk Safety Advisory Group.
3.3 The prevention of public nuisance
There continue to be complaints of noise nuisance from certain licenced premises. Noise
nuisance has 2 aspects:
• Noise from entertainment at the premises escaping from the building
• Noise from patrons outside the premises. This includes noise from patrons coming and
going but is also influenced by patrons congregating outside certain premises to smoke
Preventative advice, investigations and enforcement action have been undertaken by officers in
the Environmental Protection Team of the Council as appropriate under the provisions of the
Environmental Protection Act. This has not been as significant a problem as in past years –
although a relative small number of premises (around 5% of licensed premises) have caused
concern
3.4
The protection of children from harm
Under age sales of alcohol
The Norfolk County Council Trading Standards Department monitor this activity. The situation
has not changed dramatically during the past year.
Morality and safety matters
As in previous years, cinema, theatre, wrestling and other adult entertainment across the
district are not considered to be a problem. Despite venues regularly providing this type of
entertainment, as well as some occasional lap dancing nights, no complaints have been
received by the Council
Children as performers at licensed venues - no complaints have been reported.
3.5
Issues Raised
Loss of Established Licensed Premises
During the year many established licensed premises have closed for short periods whilst
purchasers were being sought and have now reopened. The period of closure has been
significant in many cases indicative of the economy and several premises remain closed for a
considerable period or have now converted to other uses. However on balance the number of
licenced premises has risen through new outlets becoming licensed often as a way of
diversifying business. This has included a number of microbreweries being established across
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the District. Nevertheless the statistics disguise the changes taking place in many local
communities losing their traditional pub; convenience store off-licence or similar venue.
Late night takeaways
These have generally not been a problem during the year.
Temporary Events and Raves
The vast majority of the 330 notified temporary events have taken place without incident or
complaint. Changes to the TEN system earlier in the year have increased the work needed to
process these but have broadened the control over such events.
Unlicensed musical events (often referred to as raves) have been less of a problem during the
year than in previous years in North Norfolk. Where intelligence of such activities has come to
light then council officers and/or police have taken action with landowners or prospective
organisers to prevent the event taking place.
Village Halls, sports clubs and similar venues
Despite various initiatives many management committees and individuals involved in running
these types of venue continue to be unclear about the licensing implications. More
management committees have sought to take on the DPS role. An increasing number of
reports and complaints have involved these venues in recent years. This often arises as a
result of hiring out these venues to third parties with a view to increased revenue return.
Officers are monitoring the impact of such venues.
4
Compliance monitoring and Enforcement issues
4.1 Proactive inspections and surveys
As reported previously, routine checks on licenced premises for compliance with conditions are
not undertaken. Initial inspections are undertaken by officers as part of new licence application
or variation application determinations wherever possible. A risk based inspection programme
of premises in North Norfolk is undertaken by officers of the Council’s commercial team in
respect of food hygiene and for heath & safety matters including smokefree compliance. In
practice the amount of work undertaken on Licence compliance monitoring and enforcement
has reduced in recent years.
4.2 Reactive investigations
Investigations of reports and complaints relating to licenced premises or alleged unlicensed
activities received by the Council have been investigated by appropriate officers. Action has
been taken as necessary under appropriate legislation to secure compliance. Other complaints
have been passed to the relevant responsible authority for possible action.
No Closure Notices have been served or prosecutions taken under the Licensing Act 2003 in
respect of licensed events in North Norfolk.
There have been No Review applications during the period
4.3 Joint working
As in previous years joint visits to premises have been undertaken on a case basis where
particular circumstances have warranted intervention by more than one of the responsible
authorities. These have been undertaken during nighttime trading hours as well as daytime as
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appropriate. Intervention meetings with particular Licence holders and their advisers have taken
place in respect of problem venues. This has led to successful outcomes through negotiation
and education without formal enforcement action being needed.
5
Liaison and consultation issues
5.1
Nationally
Various consultations on possible revisions to licensing law were undertaken by Central
Government in 2011. As a result some changes to the Law affecting licensed premises have
been introduced during the period.
• Key changes to the Licensing Act came in to force 25 April 2012
o Health authorities are now “responsible authorities”
o Licensing authorities are now “responsible authorities”
o Ability to suspend Premises Licences due to non-payment of annual fee
o Changing the evidence threshold – by lowering the evidence threshold for
decisions made under the Licensing Act 2003 from “necessary” to “appropriate”
o Scrapping the vicinity test
o Doubling the fine for persistent underage sales
o Changed the frequency Licensing Policy Statements must be reviewed – now
required every 5 years rather than every 3 years as previously.
o Environmental Health authorities are now able to object to a Temporary Event
Notice (TEN) - formerly only the police could. Both agencies can now object on
issues of concern under any of the 4 licensing objectives whereas formerly only
crime & disorder could be considered.
o Licensing authorities now have the discretion to impose licence conditions on a
TEN if there are objections from the police or environmental health.
o a single TEN may now cover a period of up to 168 hours (7 days) where
previously the maximum period was 96 hours (4 days)
o A limited number of TENs may be submitted in a shorter period of time (five days
before an event) rather than the standard ten days.
•
The Live Music Act 2012 has deregulated public dancing, provision of entertainment
facilities and aspects of live music entertainment with effect from October 2012. The
impact of this on the community will be monitored over the coming year.
5.2 Pub watch and Nightsafe in North Norfolk
There has been little input into these trade run groups by council officers during the period.
5.3 Local Communication and partnership links
The Licensing Forum for Norfolk has continued to meet quarterly. It brings together the
Licensing officers of the 7 District Councils, Norfolk Constabulary licensing team and
representatives of other responsible authorities. The aim being to exchange information,
highlight problems and share good practice.
Relations with the Norfolk Police Licensing Team are well established and operate very well
despite reduction in resources. Work has being prioritized and targeted at specific problem
premises or issues on an intelligence led basis resulting in positive outcomes with certain local
licensed premises.
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5.4 North Norfolk Safety Advisory Group
This group has not met as frequently as desired over the period due to resource limitations.
However focus was given to the events surrounding the Jubilee celebrations and Olympics
(including the Torch relay through the District). All of these have passed off very well.
6 Conclusions
The vast majority of licensed premises in North Norfolk continue to be well run providing a
valuable amenity for the local area, assisting the local economy and facilitating the tourist trade.
The economic climate is now having a major adverse effect on many licensed businesses.
Increasingly over recent years businesses have ceased trading completely and many venues
have been vacant for very long periods. Many village pubs have closed and the buildings
passed to other uses. This is a concern which echoes the loss of village shops and post offices.
Problems of crime and disorder involving alcohol continue to be a problem in parts of the
District but the vast majority of this relates to alcohol originating from supermarket sales and
subsequently consumed in the home or in public places.
In the North Norfolk area during the past 12 months there has been:
•
No major crime involving licensed premises
•
No major public nuisance associated with licensed premises
•
Generally good management of the vast majority of premises covered by Premises
Licenses and Club Premises Certificates
•
Some crime and disorder; nuisance and antisocial behaviour associated with a handful
of premises (generally in the key market towns)
•
Little unlicensed activity
•
Significant changeover of ownership/occupation of premises with many staying closed
for long periods and a few licenses lapsing through insolvency
.
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