Public Entertainment Licence
A licence is required where you intend to have entertainment, such as a dance, concert, fairground or any other entertainment to which members of the public are to be admitted and where some payment for admission is to be paid.
Such a licence is not required in certain circumstances, e.g. for an athletic or sports ground being used for sports or athletic purposes, or entertainment that is being provided on premises licensed under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 during licensed hours, or if you hold a Theatre or Cinema licence.
A licence is needed for the use of any premises as a "place of public entertainment". This means any place and that includes land, where any of the following entertainment is being provided:
-
An open air pop concert
-
A large fete with one or more marquees for the public
-
A boxing, wrestling or other spectacle
-
An exhibition
-
Motor cycle scrambling
-
A circus
-
A fairground (includes a ride of whatever size, speed or cost)
-
A fireworks display
-
An ice rink
-
A swimming pool
-
A billiards, snooker and/or pool hall
-
An amusement arcade other than one licensed under the Gambling Act 2005
-
A musical, dramatic or other stage or floor or radio or television performance or activity
-
Dancing, a discotheque or amplified sound
Prior to 1 April 2012 activities only required a Licence if they involved the payment of "money or money's worth". This was changed on that date, so that anything inside the Resolution, even if free or donation based, needed a Licence. To avoid a lot of free community events needing a Licence, on 20 March the Committee approved interim arrangements
'A place does not require a Public Entertainment Licence if:
(a) it is either owned or operated by the Council (or both), or
(b) all four of these conditions are satisfied:
(1) admission to the place is free of charge,
(2) there is no charge for the use of any facilities for entertainment,
(3) no donations towards the cost of the facilities or the costs of the place (such as rent, heating and lighting) are invited, and
(4) the function is held by a charitable, religious, youth, recreational, community, political or similar organisation.'
Public Entertainment (Major Event) Application Pack can be obtained by contacting the Licensing Office using the contact details on the right hand side of this page.
Alternatively, an application pack can be obtained using the contact details on the right of this page.
Completed application forms should also be sent to the contact details at the right of this page. The application form should be accompanied by the non refundable fee.
On receipt of the completed documents, the application will be circulated to all consultees listed on the front of the form and some of the consultees may carry out an inspection of the premises (if applicable). It will also be advertised on the Council's website to allow for members of the public to lodge any objections or representations to the issue of the licence.
It is in the public interest that North Ayrshire Council must process your application before it can be granted. If you have not heard from the Licensing Office within a reasonable period, please contact us. You can do this using the contact details to the right of this page.
Please note that the application process may take up to 4/5 weeks.
For 2010/2011 the fees for a Public Entertainment licence are as follows. These fees are subject to annual review.
The fee scale is
-
Public Entertainment Licence : Commercial £620
(where this includes fairground equipment on a permanent site)
-
Public Entertainment Licence: £320
-
Public Entertainment (Temporary event, fairground, circus etc): £285
-
Public Entertainment (Temporary – major event): £2,430 +
If you have questions or are unsure which fee to pay please contact the Licensing Office, contact details can be found to the right of this page.
The fee is not returnable if you decide to withdraw the application or if the licence is refused.