Licensing Board

Home Business Licences and permits Food, alcohol and gambling licences Licensing Board

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, 102kb) as of 27 February 2020.

Licensing Board Dates

The Licensing Board normally meets in the Council Chambers, Cunninghame House about 5 times a year. However, during the Coronavirus emergency the meetings scheduled in 2020 have been cancelled.

Many licensing decisions can be made by the Clerk without needing a board meeting (this arrangement is called "Delegated Powers"), but the Law has a List of decisions which are reserved to the Licensing Board themselves.

This list includes decisions to:

grant Premises Licences
make Major Variations to Premises Licences

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

The board is considering alternative procedures to allow cases on the List to be dealt with.

During the Coronavirus emergency, as well as there being no scheduled board meetings, we have limited capacity to process applications. All board members and licensing staff are working from home, and before you apply for something on the List we ask you to consider whether or not it is essential that there be a board decision before the end of the Coronavirus emergency.

If you consider that your Application for something on the List is essential, you should prepare an Application and lodge it even if there is no immediate prospect of the board being able to make a decision. The reason for this suggestion is that, if the board later adopts alternative procedures, we can prepare the Application for the board to deal with as soon as possible.

View the Licensing Board meeting schedule, minutes and related documents.

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) and Equality and Mainstreaming Report 2017-2019 (PDF, 135kb)

Contact Licensing

Email

licensing@north-ayrshire.gov.uk

Telephone

01294 324305

Address

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

North Ayrshire Council