Licensing Act 2003 - Model Conditions

When deciding to grant or vary a premises licence under the Licensing Act 2003, the licensing authority must do so subject to conditions which it considers are necessary for the promotion of the licensing objectives.

In carrying out its licensing functions the City Council must have regard to Guidance issued under the Act by the Secretary of State. Current Guidance provides pools of conditions (although not an exhaustive list), which relate to the four licensing objectives and which could be used where necessary and appropriate to the particular circumstances of an individual licensed premises. The Guidance states however, that it is important that conditions should not be applied universally and treated as standard conditions irrespective of circumstances. Under no circumstances should licensing authorities regard the pools of conditions as standard conditions to be automatically imposed in all cases. Guidance also urges partnership working to promote the licensing objectives.

Conditions which are necessary to promote the licensing objectives should emerge initially from the prospective licence holders risk assessment and be translated to form part of the operating schedule for the premises. The basket of model conditions has been produced to assist prospective licence holders where they consider that they would promote the licensing objectives in the circumstances of their application.

Once an application has been made, the police, Environmental Health service, other responsible authorities, and interested parties are encouraged to engage with the applicant if they are considering making a representation to the application. The basket of model conditions has been produced to assist all parties and promote a consistent approach when proposing conditions on a premises licence.

The basket of model conditions is not an exclusive or exhaustive list of conditions which may be included on a premises licence. It does not restrict any applicant, responsible authority, or interested party from proposing any alternative conditions, nor would it restrict a licensing sub-committee from imposing any reasonable condition on a licence it considers necessary for the promotion of the licensing objectives.

Model conditions are listed both numerically and by reference to the licensing objective which they principally promote.

Please send any comment on the model conditions to Chris Wroe at cwroe@westminster.gov.uk.

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