Apply for licences now says BBPA

by Ewan Turney

Local councils are reporting that at the halfway point of the transition phase fewer than 5% of all premises licence applications have been submitted.

A Morning Advertiser survey revealed that Middlesbrough council has received just one application, St Helens three, Westminster 49 from 3,600 premises, Camden 14 from 1,700 and Nottingham just 13 ­ all of which have been straight conversions. Shrewsbury topped the list of councils surveyed, with 6.5% of premises having applied for licences.

Gateshead council has returned almost all its 60 applications because of "crucial" errors and estimates it needs to receive around 23 error-free applications a day to process its 1,600 licences in time ­ the current rate is one a day.

"The whole process is taking far longer because so many applications are incomplete or incorrect ­ even those submitted by so-called experts on behalf of licensees," said head of regulatory services Paul Dowling.

Local Government Association spokeswoman Trish O'Flynn said: "We never had the initial deluge we were expecting, in fact we've not even had a trickle. Our member authorities are very concerned."

O'Flynn warned licensees not to leave submitting their forms until the very last day on 6 August because it is a Saturday. "Licensees may find that their councils are not open," she said.

British Beer and Pub Associa-tion director of communications Mark Hastings said the process had not yet reached crisis point.

But, he added: "It emphasises to current licensees that it is absolutely critical to get their applications in within the time frame or they will lose their grandfather rights."

The BBPA is even urging licensees in Gloucester and Canterbury ­ whose licensing policies are under judicial review ­ to submit their forms. "There is a fundamental problem in those two areas and issues need to be resolved," said Hastings. "But it is better to get the forms in and resolve the problems later."