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North Ayrshire Licensing Board

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 Eleanor Collier. The Clerk to the Licensing Board is the Council's Senior Legal Services Manager, Raymond Lynch.

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

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 8 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 meetings set:

  • Monday 18 September 2023 at 10am (last lodging date Friday 21 July 2023)
  • Monday 18 December 2023 at 10am (last lodging date Friday 20 October 2023)

The Board will also set additional special meetings, for example to deal with the revision of the Licensing Policy Statement.

Board meetings

The Board meet in Council Chambers, Cunninghame House, Irvine. All proceedings are held in public except that before making a decision the Board might retire to another room to discuss the case before returning to the Chambers to make the decision.

For several months during the height of the Coronavirus Emergency the Board met using video-conferencing instead of meeting in public, so applicants for licences, licence-holders and other parties would be invited to join the Board's video-conferences when appropriate. This no longer happens and the Board are now meeting as they did before Coronavirus.

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 adopted a Licensing Policy Statement under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 for the period 2018-23.

The documents which the Board considered before adopting the Licensing Policy Statement 2018-23 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) 

Minimum unit pricing compliance statistics

Annual Functions Report under Section 9A of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005

Annual Financial Report under Section 9B of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005

Contact Licensing

Email

licensing@north-ayrshire.gov.uk

Telephone

01294 310000

Address

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

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