15June2007GlasgowLicensingBoardIssuesStatement

Glasgow Licensing Board issues statement

15 June 2007

GLASGOW LICENSING BOARD ISSUES STATEMENT TO LICENSEES

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The Glasgow Licensing Board has issued a statement to licensees in a bid to ready Glasgow’s licensed trade for the implementation of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 in February.

The statement calls for operators to provide better demarcation of their licensed smoking areas, refresher training for licensees and day-to-day management, and a reduction in the late submission of licence applications.

The statement also discussed the delay in publication of key details of the Act. These include the procedure regulations for making, processing and determining premises licence applications and the procedures for making objections to licensing decisions.

The full statement, made by Jim McNally, Convenor for the Glasgow Licensing Board, reads as follows:

“Since the introduction of the smoking ban last year, there has been an increasing number of outdoor seating areas provided at licensed premises in Glasgow. While the Licensing Board has generally looked favourably on such applications, we are concerned that a number of premises are not managing the outside areas as responsibly as they might. One particular issue which we have had to raise with a number of licensees is the failure to provide any form of physical delineation of the licensed area. The Licensing Board will be closely monitoring outdoor areas, particularly in the summer months, and where there is no physical delineation of the licensed area, further action may be taken.

“For a number of years this Board has operated a policy requiring holders of licences, or their day to day managers, to undertake refresher training when applying for the renewal of their licence. While this Board still fully supports the principle of training for all licence holders in an effort to drive up and maintain standards, we recognize that with the introduction of the new Act fast approaching - which will require all applicants for a personal licence to obtain a licensing qualification - we are prepared to listen to any requests for exemptions from the requirements of our policy on refresher training on an

individual, case by case basis. I would stress, however, that until the personal licence holder qualification is launched, the Board will still expect new applicants to comply with the requirement to undertake training.

“Another issue which we have recently revisited is the ever increasing number of late applications for the grant or renewal of licences. Licensees and applicants have a responsibility to ensure that they lodge applications within the time limits set by the Act and this Board will be taking a strict approach when deciding whether or not to allow late applications to be considered. Too many times in the past has this Board had to arrange adjourned Board meetings simply to deal with late applications when the situation could have been avoided if applicants had kept a proper note of the dates by which their applications require to be lodged. While in all cases we will listen to the reasons why the applications were late, and decide each on its own merits, we will normally only allow the application to be considered in cases of unavoidable inadvertence or misadventure. The message we are sending out is ‘get the dates in your diaries now’.

“An issue of great concern to myself and the Clerk, and I am sure to many of those here today, is the delay by the Scottish Executive in producing the procedure regulations for making, processing and determining premises licence applications, as well as the procedures for making objections, under the new Licensing Act. Without these regulations, the Licensing Board, licence holders, applicants and members of the public are all in the dark as to what they will require to do come February next year, less than eight months away.

“I am particularly concerned that unless these regulations are produced imminently, we will not be able to provide information to applicants and members of the public in our Policy Statement as to how the Glasgow Board will process applications. This is a major issue of concern and one which I intend to raise personally with the new Minister Kenny MacAskill as a matter of urgency.”