McGrath,

Sorry that I was unable to reply to your posting of 10th May, but I have been out of the cafe touring festivals for the last two weeks. Oh the pleasures of retirement!

Simple Answers to your questions:

1) Correct. The initial fee covers all licensable aspects required with the fee fixed for the particular premises however broad or narrow the licence.

2) Correct. Structure is a matter for planning control and can now only be changed when there is a new planning application.

3) Correct. However, there is no mention of small events in the Act. The relaxation is with regard to events in small premises, i.e. those with a total capacity of fewer than 200 people. Essentially, licencing by its very nature occurs before the event (if it occurred after the event it would be essentially taxation). Hence, it is impossible to know what the attendance will be beyond the reasonable assumption that it wil be no greater than the premises capacity.

Now for the caveats. There is only an informal indication of the licence fees so far. They are banded on premises rateable value and are very much lower than the current entertainment licencing fees. I have no idea how they compare with the more relevant current fees for justices licences (for alcohol sales).

There is currently a close relationship between premises structure and licenced capacity in entertainment licencing. I am aware of a building that has had its licenced capacity more than doubled by relatively minor work undertaken to emergency escape routes. Furthermore the capacity will be significantly increased if a relatively inexpensive fire-break is inserted in the roof space because then two different areas will be able to be used simultaneously rather than as alternatives only. Consequently, although the licence cannot be conditional on sturctural alterations, there could be severe apacity constraints without them.

Richard