Nelson's eye in the Lakes
Some time ago, eagle-eyed readers may remember a strong letter of complaint from a certain Councillor Geoffrey Theobalds about my assertion that not all premises licences had been issued to those who needed them, some time after the Second Appointed Day, when they should all have been in place.
It will not have escaped your notice that the Second Appointed Day was in November 2005. I also received a vigorous protest, about a year ago, from the chief executive of Allerdale District Council in Cumbria, following a news story and comment about the fact that they had yet to issue a single licence. I should be ashamed to cast such a slur on their professionalism and abilities, he said.
I received a telephone call last week from a solicitor friend who has recently had dealings with the said local authority. He asked about the grant of a new licence, only to be told: "You may have to wait for a while; we haven't issued all our licences from transition yet."
This was last week, some 19 months after the end of transition. I hear rumours of a somewhat similar situation in parts of Manchester.
Is this good enough? Will I get an apology from Allerdale's head honcho? I doubt it.
When I see licensing minister Shaun Woodward praising local government for its efficiency and expertise in making the Licensing Act work, I think of the many hundreds of people, both licensees and practitioners, who have different stories to tell. The problem is that these people are unaccountable: they know they do not have to meet deadlines because no one is counting them home. Please do not tell me that the local authority regulatory body keeps tabs on them, because it is manifestly untrue.
That is the single most telling difference between the way the courts used to work and the current situation with councils. They seem to think that it is acceptable to claim that they have "a pile of papers" to get through, as if your application doesn't count. At least with the court system you could get pretty much an instant decision. I think a couple of rockets are in order. But who is going to give them?
