Local Licensing Forums
All councils are required to establish a Local Licensing Forum for their area. The council may, instead of establishing just one Local Licensing Forum for their area, establish separate Forums for each division.
The role of the Forum is to keep under review the operation of the licensing system in their area and to give advice and recommendations to the Licensing Board. This will be mainly at policy level and does not include reviewing or offering advice or recommendations in relation to any particular application or case before the Licensing Board.
The Forum is independent from the Licensing Board and must have the capacity to be impartial. However, the Forum and the Licensing Board share a common goal of having the local community's best interest at the heart of any decision-making.
The Forums will meet at least four times and have one joint meeting with the Board each year, and will consist of between five and 20 members, as the relevant council may determine.
The members of the Forums are to be representative of the five key interest areas, which are:
- Holders of premises licences and personal licences (licensees)
- The Chief Constable for the police area in which the Forum's area is situated
- Licensing Standards Office for the council's area
- Persons having functions relating to health, education or social work
- Young people, persons resident within the Forum's area
Whilst the majority of Forums have now been established, if you are interested in the impact of the licensing decisions in your area then you may wish to be part of the Forum and it would be worth investigating further.
Further information on your Local Licensing Forum can be found at www.local-licensing-forums.org.uk