Licensing Act 2003

My right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) provided us with a long list of complainants and most of the complaints also apply to my constituency. However, I want to focus on one particular aspect—village halls. The Prime Minister gave us a glimmer of hope, and the Leader of the House a faint glimmer of hope the next day, but I have to say that, in a Westminster Hall debate, the Minister brushed aside village halls in about five words. He seems to be a little more amenable this evening. I rather hope that we can secure much more rapid progress than he suggested in his opening speech. As I mentioned in an intervention during the Westminster Hall debate, my constituency has about 32 villages, almost all of which have halls as well as churches that also have halls. I estimate a total of about 50 such halls in my constituency. I cannot remember receiving so much vitriolic correspondence from so many people as I have received in connection with these halls. I would like to present to the Minister a few extracts from those letters. People from the Leigh village hall, for example, justly proclaimed that the hall was"““a central component of village life, providing the premises in which many activities are pursued. It is managed and maintained by a group of very publicly-spirited villagers, who give considerable time and effort to ensure it is always available as a clean””" and attractive venue. They are deeply concerned about the new regulations and the fees, which they believe are already discouraging their voluntary helpers. It is, they state,"““the antithesis of proclaimed government intent to support and reinvigorate rural communities such as Leigh.””" Their point is that people living in rural areas who"““give up their time, on a voluntary basis, to support their village hall””" after returning home from work in the evenings or on Saturday and Sunday mornings"““are alarmed at encroaching regulation, which makes it increasingly difficult to sustain their hall””," which plays an ““essential part”” of village life. Another example is from people associated with the Beare Green village hall. I shall pick out just a few points from a very long letter. The letter explains that the hall has been sustained up to now on the basis of making a tiny profit from each event. It runs a number of events and views a good profit as £100. Presently, six event licences cost £10 in total, but under the new regime, each temporary event notice licence will cost £21, putting the total up to £126, which obliterates more than the profit from one event. A letter from Ripley village hall states:"““The appointment of a Premises Supervisor will be virtually impossible due to the unreasonable burdens placed upon the position.””" Another example comes from one of my tiniest villages with a tiny hall. Thus, Holmbury St. Mary"““would like to emphasise that for small, multi-use halls such as ours, which are run entirely by volunteers for a local rural community, this new Act is a nightmare. The paperwork is oppressive whilst the limit of only 12 functions per year at which alcohol can be present is far too small.””" Thirty is the number that they would like. I am aware that some of my hon. Friends want to add to my comments, so I shall be prompt. Essentially, under the new regime, people associated with my village halls feel that there is excessive bureaucracy. They have to produce plans, but they are not clear why they are required. Some have felt the need, as mentioned earlier, to consult lawyers and they are also required to produce an operating schedule—whatever that is for these tiny little halls. Generally, each of these little village halls is run by a small group of people who are bullied and cajoled into serving. No one wants to be the designated licence holder. All the people to whom I have spoken think it ludicrous that the temporary event notice licence has been set at one dozen, and most would like the limit to be three or four dozen. Moreover, all of them feel that the fees are far too high, especially given the minimal profit—if any—that the halls make. The House must bear it in mind that most village halls are run for the community, not for profit. Some positive points have been made in the debate. I hope that the Minister will take them forward, and that he will do so quickly, as village halls that do not break even will close and never open again. I am tempted to suggest that Ministers might consider setting a de minimis level for some of the very small halls. Such halls serve very small communities and are run by a very few people, and they could easily fall below the de minimis level. In such cases, there is clearly a need for a dramatic reduction in the fees. I hope that the Minister will consider changing the thinking behind the Act slightly and introducing the concept of personal licence holders for temporary events. Under that proposal, the person running an event would apply for a licence, at the previous level of £10. He or she would take responsibility for the event, with the result that the hall would not have to provide a person who would be personally responsible. Local halls are vital in rural areas such as mine. Surrey is full of such halls, and they are of enormous value. Events such as Guy Fawkes night, Christmas and new year’s eve will be on us soon, and the House must remember that local halls also present film evenings, opera sessions and so on. Although he does not come from a rural area, I hope that the Minister will accept that they play a very important role. We must save our village halls but, if it is not changed, this Act will destroy them.