Minor variations to a premises licence

Premises licence and club premises certificate holders can apply for 'minor variations' to their licences in certain cases.

As of the 29 July 2009 new legislation was introduced to allow premises licence and club premises certificate holders to apply for 'minor variations' to their licences in certain cases. For example, it is possible to make minor changes to the layout of a premises or to add some activities to a licence eg regulated entertainment, provided that the variation does not have an adverse effect on any of the licensing objectives.

The minor variations procedure may not be used to:

• extend the period for which the licence has effect
• vary substantially the premises to which it relates
• change the designated premises supervisor
• add the sale or supply of alcohol
• authorise the supply of alcohol at any time between 11pm and 7am
• authorise an increase in the amount of time on any day during which alcohol may be sold or supplied.

Under this process the application must be made on the prescribed form and it will be necessary for the applicant to display a notice at the premises. A template notice and guidance on the requirements for its format are provided below.

The licensing authority must grant an application only if it considers that none of the variations proposed in the application could have an adverse effect on the promotion of any of the licensing objectives. In any other case the authority must reject the application. This procedure is in contrast to the normal procedure for the variation of a premises licence or club premises certificate, where the applicant must give notice of the application to each responsible authority, and where the application must be referred to a licensing hearing (consisting of councillors) in the event that a responsible authority or interested party makes a relevant representation.

Requirements for minor variation notices
For applications for minor variations to licences, the applicant is required to display a notice on the premises for a period of no less than ten working days. This period starts on the day after the day on which the application was given to AVDC.

The notice must be in all cases prominently displayed at or on the premises to which the application relates, where it can be conveniently read from the exterior of the premises. In the case of a premises covering an area of more than fifty metres square, a further notice in the same form and subject to the same requirements must be displayed every fifty metres along the external perimeter of the premises abutting any highway.

The notice to be displayed at the premises must:

• be of a size equal or larger than A4
• be on white paper
• be printed legibly in black ink or typed in black;
• contain a heading with a font of a size equal to or larger than 32
• have wording in the rest of the notice in a font size equal to or larger than 16.

How long will it take to process my application?
Interested parties have ten working days from the ‘initial day’, that is, the day after the licensing authority receives the application, to submit representations. AVDC must therefore wait until this period has elapsed before determining the application, but must do so at the latest within 15 working days, beginning on the first working day after we received the application, with effect either that:

• the minor variation is granted, or
• the application is refused.

If we fail to respond to an applicant within 15 working days, the application will be treated as refused and we will return the fee to the applicant forthwith. However if agreed with the applicant, we may instead treat the undetermined application as a new application using the fee originally submitted.

Fees
A minor variation costs £89.00

Apply on-line for a minor variation www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/piplink

Date Updated: 10/05/11

Downloads:

File name	Summary	File size / Download time	File Format
Adobe Acrobat Reader is available FREE of charge. You can download it directly from Adobe's website by clicking the link to the right. Once on Adobe's website, follow the instructions on screen to install the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
LA2003 - Application Letter to Vary a Premises Licence	Application Letter to Vary a Premises Licence	56KB 56Kbps Modem: Less than 1 Minute Broadband : Less than 1 Minute
LA2003 - LA19 Public Notice - Vary Premises	LA19 - Public Notice - Vary Premises Licence	21KB 56Kbps Modem: Less than 1 Minute Broadband : Less than 1 Minute
LA2003 - LA06 Application to Vary a Premises Licence	LA06 - Application to Vary a Premises Licence	228KB 56Kbps Modem: Less than 1 Minute Broadband : Less than 1 Minute
Application to vary a premises licence	Application form to specify DPS 051019	43KB 56Kbps Modem: Less than 1 Minute Broadband : Less than 1 Minute
Table of Fees LA 071112*	Table of Fees for Licensing Act 2003	35KB 56Kbps Modem: Less than 1 Minute Broadband : Less than 1 Minute