Licensing Act 2003

Introduction

The Licensing Act 2003 introduced significant changes to Licensing Laws in England and Wales and completely changed the way licensing is dealt with. Licences dealt with by us:

  • alcohol
  • public entertainment
  • theatre
  • cinema
  • late night refreshment
  • night cafes
  • registered club licence.

License types

If you are involved in carrying out any of the above establishments, you may need to be licensed. 

Key measures

The key measures contained in the act are:

  • flexible opening hours, with the potential for up to 24 hour opening, seven days a week, subject to consideration to the impact on the local residents. This, it is hoped, will help to minimise public disorder resulting from fixed closing times
  • premises licence a single scheme for licensing premises which sell alcohol, provide public entertainment or provide refreshment late at night
  • personal licences a new system of personal licences which allow holders to sell or serve alcohol for consumption on or off any premises possessing a premise licence
  • designated premises supervisor a personal licence holder immediately identifiable as being in day to day charge of licensed premises
  • Magistrates Court to deal with appeals against the local authority.

In offering this advice we wish to make it clear that:

  • Legislation may change over time and the advice given is based on the information available at the time the guidance was produced. It is not necessarily comprehensive and is subject to revision in the light of further information.
  • Only the courts can interpret statutory legislation with any authority.
  • This advice is not intended to be a definitive guide to, or a substitute for, the relevant law. Independent legal advice should be sought where appropriate.

Statement of Licensing Policy

Consultation

We are consulting on the Cumulative Impact Policy (CIP) and Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) currently in place for the Millfield and New England area (known as 'Op Can Do'). We invite your comments.

This is your opportunity to inform us about how you are affected, positively or negatively, by licensed premises in this area.

The consultation runs from 7 September to 18 October 2023. You can find further information about the consultation and respond via our Millfield and New England licensing consultation 2023 page.

Your responses will assist the us to determine the policy and establish if the current cumulative impact policy and assessment are still relevant to the present day situation in the Millfield and New England area known as 'Op Can Do'.

We will consider all responses, together with any supporting statistical and evidential data, prior to the determination of the policy.

The current CIP, which forms Section 12 of the Statement of Licensing Policy, and the published CIA are available below.

Statement of Licensing policy1.66MBpdf
Size: 1.66MBFile format: pdf
CIA statement1.02MBpdf
Size: 1.02MBFile format: pdf