Clause 68 - The relevant licensing authority
Licensing Bill [Lords]
4:00 pm
Mr Malcolm Moss (North East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
I have a couple of questions for the Minister on clause 68. Is it a new provision, or does it relate to earlier legislation, in particular the 1964 Act? In how many instances do premises—in this case, club premises—straddle local authority areas? We dealt with that when we discussed pubs straddling licensing areas in various parts of the country, but we did not come to any agreement or discuss the scale of the incidence. It would be interesting to hear from the Minister why this provision has been included. Is it simply lifted from earlier legislation, or has there been a growing problem in the intervening years since 1964 where licensed premises such as clubs fall on the boundaries of relevant licensing authorities? Does the definition of ''premises'' refer to one particular building? Are we talking about adjoining buildings, a group of buildings or buildings that are separated geographically but in the same town or village? Why is the provision included and what is the scale of the problem?