Licensing Act 2003

I accept that some local authorities are running workshops. That is a good idea and is helpful, but if someone is a volunteer running a small village hall committee, he still has to find the time to attend those workshops and to fill in the form, regardless of whether he has been to a local authority workshop or not. Far from communities having a greater say in what is happening in their area, a publican told me the other day that the village where her pub is located is concerned because the application form, which goes up in the pub’s window, has to contain the full hours for which she is applying for a licence. As she wants the opportunity to have an extended licence for new year and sometimes to have people in to watch the rugby in the morning, she has applied for a licence from 8 am to 1 or 2 am. Far from feeling that they are being consulted, local villagers are saying, ““What’s this? Why is the pub going to be open every day from 8 am to 2 am?”” It is not, but the way in which the Government have drafted the legislation is causing all those worries. The system has become so bureaucratic that it is a lawyer’s licence to print money. Hon. Members should not take my word for it: ask a lawyer—everyone else has to in order to fill in the forms. Peter Lockley of Blythe Liggins solicitors in Leamington Spa says:"““The Government could not have produced a more complicated form had it tried. Even seasoned lawyers and experienced licensees are on the whole totally confused.””" For once, that piece of legal advice is free. Alternatively, the Minister could ask someone who has completed one of the forms. John Moore of Ashfield Peace memorial hall writes:"““I have personally devoted at least two man weeks to understanding the requirements, attended a training evening and had two meetings with the licensing authority at Mole Valley. I have purchased two HMSO publications on the Regulations and the interpretation costing £24. I have read 30 pages of accompanying notes. I have completed a form 21 pages long, each page seriously complicated and detailed, compared with 2 simple pages previously. We have had to prepare a plan of the hall to scale 1:100 done by volunteers but costing us £120 for computer software to run it. We have by law to advertise our change of licence at a cost of £292””." That is the process that people have to go through to apply for the licences.