Scottish licensees facing "tsunami" of legislation

Scottish licensees face a "tsunami" of bureaucracy after next February's launch of the lengthy transition to the new Licensing (Scotland) Act, an Edinburgh conference was told this week.

Fife lawyer Tom Johnston, of Young & Partners LLP, warned delegates a deluge of premises risk assessments, physical plans, personal licence plans and draft local conditions threatens to submerge under-pressure licensing board legal departments - and ultimately hit publicans with hefty costs.

Several other lawyers and trade observers shared his gloom, with one chartered surveyor saying the need to provide detailed plans of premises poses particular problems.

"There are no additional resources for any of this," Mr Johnston told the conference, organised by BII Scotland and the Law Society of Scotland. "I have very great fears about what lies ahead - it really is a case of 'be very afraid'."

Head of BII Scotland Janet Hood, herself a licensing lawyer, said one of the biggest challenges posed by the new system will be a huge increase in objections to licences. "Licensing boards will now have to consider an objection from the Saskatchewan Temperance League," she said.

Under Scotland's new rules anyone in the world will be able to technically object to a licence application: only "vexatious and frivolous" objections are ruled out.

Glasgow licensing board chairman Bailie James McInally said the only way Scotland's biggest city can handle its 2,000 new licence applications for the new system is by applying a fast track scheme.

Venues which observe city-standard hours aiming to operate as before will mainly be nodded through if there are no other problems.