MP: removing vicinity test 'fundamentally wrong'

Home Office minister James Brokenshire has defended the Government's decision to allow anyone to appeal against a licensing application.

In a committee debate on the proposed licensing changes set out in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill, Brokenshire defended the removal of the vicinity test.

He accused the previous government of "excluding people rather than engaging the community".

However, MP Steve McCabe hit out saying that getting rid of the vicinity test is a "funny definition of localism".

He said that for people that have no obvious interest or that will not be affected by the site to have a say in licensing applications is "fundamentally wrong".

"It opens all sorts of potential for lobbying across the country, lobbying from special interest groups and lobbying from commercial interests that could be disguised, and it's going to be immensely costly for the person applying for the licence," added McCabe, Labour MP for Selly Oak in Birmingham.

"The Government is telling us to support community pubs, but this is a recipe to put enormous pressure on them."

Positive comments​

Brokenshire responded by saying that removing the vicinity test would open up opportunities for people to add positive comments.

He said: "Once you start to go down that route, then it starts to inhibit or prevent people being able to make representations (appeals).

"But this cuts both ways because at the moment people could put a positive representation in to say how much they support their pub.

"We considered vicinity carefully because the previous Government seemed to be excluding people rather than engaging the community and ensuring that the community could have their say on licensing applications."