Reform licencing laws to give councils power over payday lenders
Author: Tony Page, the Guardian |
Councils are powerless to control the clustering of payday lenders or betting shops on high streets which may be a concern to residents. They cannot regulate sunbeds and tanning salons even if they feel that they are a particular problem in their area.
It may surprise many people to hear that councils and communities are restricted in being able to influence the type or number of businesses that operate in their areas – and this is something that must change.
At the Local Government Association annual licensing conference we called for government to undertake a comprehensive review of the licensing system. It should be relevant, simple and community-led.
The Local Government Association’s proposals made the case for councils to have broader powers to make sure licensing can address the concerns of residents and businesses. Neither the planning system nor licensing framework lets councils control the social impact of businesses opening up.
The licensing objectives set out in the Licensing and Gambling Acts need to be updated to reflect councils’ wider statutory duties including public health. A reformed system must retain the existing power for councils to adopt local licensing controls if they are needed without burdening businesses nationally.
Changes should also include making the process much simpler. Reform will require an overhaul of existing laws. There is a huge amount of licensing statute, some of which dates back more than a century. The Town Police Clauses Act 1847, for example, which regulates black taxis outside of London, still refers to horse-drawn carriages. Legislation is split across a number of different Whitehall departments, leading to uncoordinated and overlapping requirements.
This is creating an unnecessary amount of bureaucracy for businesses and councils, which are having to fill out and process the same details on multiple application forms for different licences.
The way that businesses apply for licenses must be more straight forward. This will require a major overhaul to scrap those licensing laws that are obsolete and inefficient and update remaining laws so they work more effectively.
Business-specific licences could be issued under the “licence for life” principle established by the Licensing Act 2003, reducing the need to resupply information unless the nature of the business changes. Businesses could instead pay an annual maintenance fee needed to keep the licence valid.
This would be backed up by robust measures to review licences where problems were identified, a safeguard that has been omitted in several deregulatory proposals.
Councillor Tony Page is Licensing Champion on the Local Government Association’s safer and stronger communities board.