Licensing - Making Representations
The protection of local residents is given a central place in the Licensing Act. When an application is made for a new licence, or major variation of an existing licence interested parties are free to make relevant and reasonable representations.
Interested Parties are:
- A person living in the vicinity of the premises
- A body representing persons who live in that vicinity
- A person involved in a business in that vicinity
- A body representing persons involved in such businesses
Relevant Representations
Only representations that are relevant will be considered. Those that are vexatious, frivolous or repetitious will not. The Council’s policy indicates that representations will be considered repetitious if duplicated within a period of 12 months.
‘Relevant representations’ are only those representations that refer to the four Licensing Objectives:
- Prevention of Crime and Disorder
- Public Safety
- The Protection of Children from Harm
- The Prevention of Public Nuisance
Whilst representations that are not evidence based will be considered they will not carry much ‘weight’ when considering the objective they are seeking to address.
Please note that representations MUST be in writing and that anonymous correspondence will not be taken into consideration. Also, that copies of all representations will be supplied in full to the applicant. They will also comprise part of the public papers for the Committee hearing, and be freely available to the press.
Representations made to the Licensing Authority by interested parties should be addressed to the Licensing Section, Environmental Health Services, Royal Borough of Kingston, Guildhall Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 1EU. Correspondence can be sent at anytime to arrive up to, and including twenty working days, starting from the day after an application is lodged. Representations made after this date will not be considered.
Interested parties may also apply to the Licensing Authority for a review of the premises licence at any time. However, the Licensing Authority can reject such applications if they are frivolous, vexatious or repetitious.
Petitions:
As an author of a petition there are certain pre-requisites that must be complied with in order for the petition to be properly considered. Firstly, it must state the full name and address of the author, the title of the petition, and the reason for it,including which of the four objectives it refers to. This must be stated on each individual page for it to be considered. The Council will correspond with the author regarding the application in question.who will be expected to disseminate the information to all the signatories.