Pre-application engagement the new advocacy.
In this article Paddy looks at 4 recent successes without a hearing.
It is a new world out there in licensing land. I have just had four great “wins” without any hearings. Two in Newcastle and two in Leeds. All down to engagement with the statutory authorities with agreement being reached to remove the need for hearings. Costs and time savings to the operators and to the Licensing Authorities without the need for hearings being set up and all of the work and time involved in that.
Elland Road
Leeds United securing Premiership football has led to the commencement of the redevelopment of the ground. What a job this is going to be as there is demolition and re-building going ahead immediately. The first stage was to demolish the hospitality facilities at the back of the West Stand and erect a new two floor hospitality facility in the North Car Park. Planning having been granted we quickly applied for a new premises licence for the space to be used on match days and for seasonal hospitality. I really can’t express my thanks more highly to the match day and licensing Police team. In particular to Bob Patterson from WYP who I have worked with for over a quarter of a century in Leeds. His knowledge of the stadium and our historic applications is encyclopaedic and walking round the site and agreeing amends to the application allowed for the WYP to withdraw their rep along with EHO and a local resident. It really was the best-case example of working together for a sensible outcome to promote the licensing objectives. Many more applications to come as the ground is redeveloped and the capacity increased.
Testbed
Even more pre-application went into the new licence process for testbed. https://testbedleeds.com/ I have been fortunate to represent the family team behind one of Leeds most important cultural and live music spaces. Significant new investment as meant significant changes to the infrastructure and physical layout of the premises. The old licence was restrictive, and the conditions were as equally awkward for the operator and the enforcement agencies. We started the process by meeting EHO to discuss the changes and then also Ward Councillors and residents in the vicinity. The Police were also looped into the application process. The engagement was first rate with all parties, and we amended some of the offered conditions meaning there were no representations and the licence was granted under delegated authority.
Newcastle
At the same time, I was dealing with applications to vary the licences to add an hour trading to each of the premises’ licences for Mojo and Manahatta in Newcastle. An unlighted view was taken by the Authorities in Newcastle to both applications. Both premises sit within the central Newcastle stress areas and this Cumulative Impact Policy means there is a presumption of refusal for major variations which could impact the licensing objectives. We started the process with meetings with the Police and the Licensing Authority who lodged representations against both applications along with Public Health and a former ward councillor. Again, superb engagement and finessing the applications with all parties allowed for the variations to be granted without hearings, saving all time and money.
It is a breath of fresh air when this level of engagement can lead to satisfactory results for all.