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Annex 4 - Framework for grandfather rights & transition
Framework for Transition
Grandfather Rights
The Premises Licence
- There will be no full embedded "grandfather rights" for existing licensees in Scotland.
- There will be no "grandfather right" for currently licensed hours or extensions to those hours.
- There will be partial "grandfather rights" available to existing licensees as follows:
- Exemption from the consequences of the overprovision assessment and from the overprovision ground for refusal of a licence where there is no change to the size, capacity or type of operation taking place on the premises.
- Exemption from the need to provide building standards, planning and food hygiene certificates where transfer is on a like for like basis.
- Where transfer is on a like for like basis but the Board considers that they would nevertheless be minded to refuse the licence on the grounds of the "location, character or condition of the premises", but that suitable modifications can be made to address this, the licence must be granted and the licensee given a period of 12 months to make the necessary modifications. If the modifications are not made within this period the licence would be revoked.
- All other aspects of the new legislation would be applied including the following:
- Applications subject to decision by the Board and open to full process for objections and representations.
- Pro forma Operating Plan and Layout Plan must be submitted.
- National Licence conditions and any additional local licence conditions would apply.
The Personal Licence
- There will be no grandfather rights.
- Applicants will require to undertake the relevant training.
Relevant Offences
- There will be no grandfather rights - the Bill's provisions will apply in full to existing licensees
Garage/Petrol Station Forecourt Shops
- There will be no grandfather rights other than those mentioned above in relation to the Premises Licence if applicable. This means that existing forecourt shops will only be eligible for consideration for a licence under the new regime if they fall within a specified exemption which will be outlined in the Bill by amendment at stage 2. This will be based on shops which serve a wider local function and are a required community resource.
Transition
Timing
Ministers have agreed the following key milestones for transition to the new regime:
- By October 2006 - all accompanying regulations and draft statutory guidance published for 3 month formal consultation.
- By February 2007 - regulations and guidance laid before the Scottish Parliament.
- May 2007 - Appointment of new Boards and local forums following Local Government Elections.
- June 2007 to November 2007 - 6 month period for Boards to prepare licensing policy statements and conduct overprovision assessments. Final versions would then be published and widely available 2 months prior to the start of transition. Appointment of Licensing Standards Officers by Local Authorities would also take place in this period.
Proposed Framework for Transition
The Transition Team has proposed the following framework which Ministers have endorsed.
- There would be a ' big bang' transition where all licences under the new system and the majority of the provisions of the Licensing Act take effect on a single appointed day following a transition period.
- The acceptable transition period would be approx 18 months from February 2008.
- Under the 'big bang' approach, transition would be administrative and it would be necessary for the 1976 Act licences (and associated enforcement powers) to continue to run until the 'big bang' date. To promote fairness for licensees and reduce administrative complications, the following amendments to the 1976 Act would be needed during transition:
- No 1976 Act renewals - extend existing licences where necessary
- No 1976 Act extensions - extend annual (regular) extensions where necessary to run until end of transition period
- To ensure a managed transition, existing licensees would be required to apply for their new licence at a specified time, according to the month of the quarterly Board meeting in which their existing licence is due to expire ie either March, June or October 2008 or January 2009. Licensees would be required to receive individual letters from their Board outlining their application deadline.
- There would be a 6 month determination period during transition for all premises licence applications.
- Where there are no objections to an application and the clerk is satisfied that the draft operating plan and layout plan conform to the Board's policy statement, it would be preferable to allow a list of non-controversial applications to be submitted to the Board and agreed. Determination itself must of course still be by the Board and not delegated.
- Personal Licence applications should be processed as follows:
- Those unassociated with a premises licence application - at any time during transition
- Those associated with a premises licence application ie as named designated premises managers ( DPM), to apply at same time as premises application.
- Where a premises has not identified a DPM at time of application, it would be acceptable to allow this name to be provided at any time prior to a determined date before the end of the transition period. If no name was provided the licence would fall.
Other issues
The Transition team will consider the detail of transition further including:
- When new licence applications should be processed
- When club applications should be processed
- How to handle provisional grants
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