Just now and again my local council are helpful. Today was one such time. I received a letter inviting me to a public consultation about the licensing policy currently being drawn up as a result of the LICENCING ACT 2003. There is a statutory requirement to consult about a whole range of issues and PELs are included.
It was clear that Bradford Metropolitan Council would be the responsible authority where I live as it is a "unitary authority" but in other areas of the country where there are both county councils and district councils I am not clear who would be the licensing authority.... but whichever it is the is a duty to consult.
Most Local Authorities have web sites that can be accessed easily as they all seem to have a generic title, in Bradford's case www.bradford.gov.uk , in Somerset www.somerset.gov.uk etc. etc.
If we are concerned that the PEL part of this legislation may cause some damage to our ability to have folk clubs, sessions, or live music of any sort in pubs these statutory consultations seem to be the time to ensure that our councils are not using the granting of a PEL to reduce the possibilities of such events.
A simple baseline would be that there should be a presumption that the PEL would be granted unless there was a demonstrable cause as to why this should not be the case and that in the granting of PELs there should be no additional hurdle imposed that would lead to a reluctance to apply, i.e. the charging of a fee that did more than cover the cost ofd the licence or the imposition of spurious additional safety requirements.
For those in Bradford, W. Yorks, the consultation dates and times are as follows:- Tuesday 21st Sept, Shipley Library, Room 3, Well Croft, Shipley; Wednesday 22nd September, Banqueting Suite, City Hall Bradford; Thursday 23rd September Keighley Disabled People's Centre, Temple Row Keighley; all meetings start at 7.00pm. The draft policy upon which they will be consulting is available on line at www.bradford.gov.uk/council/licensing. The consultation form has to be returned by 4th Oct. Mr Uppett please take note!!!!