Meeting documents

CHILTERN DISTRICT COUNCIL

1     INFORMATION ITEM

The Licensing Act received Royal Accent in July 2003 and it was envisaged that the ‘First Appointed Date’, when existing licence holders can apply for licenses under the new regime will be the end of March 2004 and the ‘Second Appointed Date’, when the new licensing system takes effect will be January 2005.  Guidance was to be issued by government in September 2003 to inform local licensing policies.

However, the guidance has not yet been produced and discussions are continuing between Government Departments on some of the issues within the guidance.  It is now envisaged that the ‘First Appointed Day’ will be October 2004 and the ‘Second Appointed Day’ in July 2005, although these may be subject to change.

Officers have had a meeting with Inspector West of Thames Valley Police and both Amersham and Chesham Pubwatch Schemes.  This has been an opportunity to discuss the implications of the new licensing scheme, to develop networks with the licensing trade and to informally consult on Chiltern’s draft Licensing Policy.  Feedback from these discussions will be considered before the policy is formally consulted upon.  Discussions have also been had with Bucks Community Action on the implications of the Act on village halls and a training forum for village hall committees is being considered for the future.

A Buckinghamshire officer group has been established which has provided a forum for discussions on policy development, IT and dissemination of information to licensees.  The group has arranged training on the Act for Members in May.  Group members in the south of the county are also investigating the feasibility of joint working in relation to the processing of personal licences.

Once guidance is finalised by the Government, the draft policy will be reviewed and then distributed to know licence holders for formal consultation.  Responses will be considered and the policy amended as appropriate.