Licensing: no extra time

June 14, 2005: The Government has said it will not put back the August 6 deadline for new-style licensing applications, despite pressure from the opposition.

The call came from Ludlow Tory Philip Dunne, during Culture Media and Sport questions in the Commons yesterday, who said the two local authorities in his constituency had issued between 50 and 77 pages of application form and guidance notes to those asking to convert existing licences.

"As of this morning, however, only 27 out of 350 licensed premises in South Shropshire and approximately ten per cent of this in Bridgenorth district council have submitted application forms," he said.

The costly and complicated bureaucracy resulting from the change in legislation should be good enough reason for a delay in the deadline, he argued.

But Licensing Minister James Purnell stood firm and said such a change would require legislation which would not necessarily get through Parliament before August 6.

He also refused to accept that the legislation was an administrative nightmare, claiming the Act would reduce bureaucracy and save more than £2 billion over ten years.

Maidenhead Conservative Theresa May, however, was unimpressed. She accused the Minister of failing to appreciate the mood of those applying for the licenses, not just for pubs and clubs and the like, but also for village halls, sports clubs and community centres for which the fee of £180 amounted to a "significant sum, eating into the money that they raise for local people".

She added: "Will he not accept and come to realise that, with 54 days before the August deadline and, on his own admission, fewer than ten per cent of the applications in so far, and in the light of all the burdens caused to local authorities and councillors, not to mention the problems of licensees, many of whom will not get their applications in, he must take his head out of the sand, accept the obvious and extend the August deadline?"

But it was all to no avail. The deadline will remain and we remain to see what confusion may lie ahead.