Licensing Board

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North Ayrshire Licensing Board

Latest Coronavirus (COVID-19) updates for Licensing

North Ayrshire Licensing Board is the statutory licensing authority responsible for all Alcohol and Betting Licences in North Ayrshire. The Board is constituted under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 and Gambling Act 2005.

North Ayrshire Council elects Councillors to be Members of the Board. The Convenor of the Licensing Board is Councillor Ronnie McNicol. The Clerk to the Licensing Board is the council's Senior Legal Services Manager, Aileen Craig.

Please read the North Ayrshire Licensing Board Guide to Information (Word, 75kb).

View the current list of Premises, Premises Licence Holders and Premises Managers in North Ayrshire (Excel, 113kb) as of 12 November 2021.

Licensing Board Dates

Many licensing decisions can be made by the Clerk using authority granted by the Board, so these decisions can be made without needing a Board meeting (this arrangement is called "Delegated Powers").

Some decisions are on a List of reserved decisions, which means that only the Licensing Board can make them. The reserved list includes decisions to:

grant new Premises Licences
make Major Variations to existing Premises Licences
review Premises Licences (hear complaints)

The reserved list is prescribed by Law and the Licensing Board cannot change it.

If you want something on the Reserved List you should lodge your Application at latest by the Friday 6 weeks before the date you want the Board to deal with your case. If you do this, we will try to have your case dealt with at your chosen Board meeting, but we cannot guarantee to do so, so your case may have to wait for a later meeting.

The Board plan to meet in 2022 on 6 days (note that one date is 'provisional', for the reasons given below):

Monday 31 January 2022 (last day to lodge Friday 17 December 2021)
Monday 28 March 2022 (Friday 11 February 2022)
Monday 20 June 2022 (Friday 6 May 2022) (* provisional)
Monday 5 September 2022 (Friday 22 July 2022)
Monday 31 October 2022 (Friday 16 September 2022)
Monday 28 November 2022 (Friday 14 October 2022)

Provisional Meeting Date - 20 June 2022

The reason that this date is marked 'provisional' is because of the combination of two factors:

(a) Councils in Scotland have their Election on Thursday 5 May 2022. No Board would meet in the period running up to the Election (after Monday 4 April 2022) and the Board cannot meet again until the Members are elected by the First Meeting of the newly-elected Council, which will meet around 18th May;

(b) by Law all Board Members (even those who have sat on the Board before) must have training given by an outside body before they sit. This means that there is only a period of a few weeks in which they can obtain training, before the Council start the 'Summer Recess'.

It is therefore possible that this Meeting will be cancelled at short notice, in which case business set for it will call at a later meeting. If the 20 June 2022 meeting is cancelled we hope to call cases on 5 September 2022.

Board meetings during the pandemic

The Board are meeting using video-conferencing instead of meeting in public, in Council Chambers, Cunninghame House, Irvine. The Board have determined that their meetings cannot be held in public for a reason relating to Coronavirus. This means the rule requiring public meetings has been changed, and Boards can meet without the public being present (the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020, Schedule 5, Paragraph 4(5)(d), as extended by the Coronavirus (Extension and Expiry) (Scotland) Act 2021). The Applicants for Licences, Licence-Holders and other parties will be invited to join the Board's video-conferences when appropriate.

During the Coronavirus Emergency, we have limited capacity to process cases. All Board Members and licensing staff are working from home.

View North Ayrshire Licensing Board Agendas and Minutes.

Statement of Reasons

If the Licensing Board is asked to issue a statement of reasons explaining a decision, in addition to notifying affected parties. Please view our statement of reasons page for more information.

Licensing Policy Statement

The Licensing Board has adopted a Licensing Policy Statement under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 for the period 2018-22.

The documents which the Board considered before adopting the Licensing Policy Statement 2018-22 were:

Documents (a) to (k) relate to the proposed Overprovision policy

Documents (l) to (o) are the submissions made by respondents to the consultation process

Document (p) was completed as part of the board's legal duty under the Equality Act 2010

The Board also considered:

Overprovision

The Board may refuse a licence due to an overprovision of licensed premises in any one area.

The Overprovision assessment for the Licensing Policy Statement 2018-22 is contained in the background documents listed above, mainly (k) Premises Licences in North Ayrshire (Excel, 13kb)

Standard Conditions

When premises are granted a new licence, these are subject to a set of conditions. Standard Conditions are reviewed by the council and a new edition of the Conditions is published.

Premises are only controlled by the set of Conditions it was given at the time the licence was granted. Your licence is not affected if the Board publishes a new edition. Our Standard Conditions:

Please note: the Licensing Board may apply the newest edition to older Licences - this might happen if:

during Review procedure - the Board might uphold a complaint against the Premises and decide to vary some of the Licence Conditions
during Variation proceedings (where the licence holder asks the Board to change part of the licence) the Board may decide to update the particular Premises' conditions to the newest edition

In either case the individual Licence Holder can make representations to the Board.

Signs and Notices

The following are mandatory signs and notices under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005. If you are unsure as to which signs you are required to display, in relation to your Licence, please contact the Licensing Office.

Objections and Complaints about Licensed Premises

The Board has stated advice (PDF, 110kb) on making comments and complaints. How to make a Complaint/Premises Licence review application (Word, 22kb) to the Licensing Board, under Section 36 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005.

Mainstreaming Equality and Equality Outcomes

Information on the Board's equality outcomes and the progress it has made to mainstream equality is contained in the Board's

Equality and Mainstreaming Report 2013-2017 and Equality Outcomes Report 2017-2021 (PDF, 151kb), Equality and Mainstreaming Report 2017-2019 (PDF, 135kb)and Equality and Mainstreaming Report 2019-2021 (PDF, 252kb)

Contact Licensing

Email

licensing@north-ayrshire.gov.uk

Telephone

01294 324305

Please note: this telephone line is not currently in use however, Licensing staff are able to phone customers who request a call. Requests can be made either via the Contact Centre (01294 310000) or by emailing the Licensing email address detailed above.

Address

Licensing Section, Legal Services, North Ayrshire Council, Cunninghame House, Irvine, KA12 8EE

North Ayrshire Council