Information and News 2019
Next Forum meeting - will take place at 10am on Wednesday 11th December 2019 at the newly opened Seaglass (former Wemyss Hotel) 18 Links Road, Port Seton EH32 0DU.
Annual Fees 2019 - Good news. No licensed premises were taken to review this year for non payment of the mandatory annual fee by 1st October. The new statement of licensing policy that all defaulters would require the respective licence to be reviewed at the October Board has not been required this year.
Rape Prevention - Police Scotland are supporting Rape Crisis this Christmas by promoting the campaign throughout the festive period. The video at the following link shows how everyone can do their bit to protect women from rape - Who Are You video
Licensees are encouraged to display the following posters and utilise the short video for staff training. Posters - Chat Drink Pull Sex and Club Dance Taxi Sex
Change of Company - Please be aware that in the past few years a number of premises licences in the name of companies have been lost due to the failure to transfer the licence when a licence in the name of a company has changed or is dissolved etc. If this happens then the licence is lost and a whole new application process is required to be gone through to get the licence back. This is costly and time consuming, and will lead to the loss of income.
Festive Hours 2019
A general extension to licensed hours has been granted by East Lothian Licensing Board for on-consumption premises to 02:00 on the following dates: 24th, 25th and 26th December 2019, and for 31st December and 1st January 2020. No application for these days need be made or notified to the Licensing Office. Any extension required for other dates should be applied for by no later than 2nd December 2019.
Working Well
A club in East Lothian was concerned at the general increase in drugs activity that is taking place in pubs, clubs, bars, restaurants etc and decided to be more proactive in dealing with drugs abusers. They have installed non - intrusive CCTV in their toilets, where most drug users operate, and it has seen a marked decrease in drugs abuse. This type of positive action is quite legal and has other benefits. It deters illicit smokers and also other anti-social behaviour and criminal acts such as assaults, intimidation and malicious damage. For more information contact your local crime prevention officer.
Best Bar None Awards
Applications for 2019 awards will close at the end of August 2019.
If you have not applied and would like an application form for the next round of awards please get in touch with Police Scotland - allen.paul@scotland.pnn.police.uk or phone 01620827569.
Annual Fees - This is early notification that the mandatory Premises Licence fee is due by no later than 1st October 2019. The Licensing Board will be sending out reminder letters by the beginning of August. This year, according to the new 'statement of licensing policy 2018-2023', all defaulters will automatically be called to explain non-payment and breach of terms of their licence at the October Licensing Board.
Licensing Board Annual Functions Report
Details of the above report can be found at the following link - Functions Report
Occasional Licence Fee Review
The Scottish Government review of Occasional Licence fees is ongoing until 16th July 2019. To have your say please visit the Scottish Govt., website and complete the on-line survey.
General Extension to Licensed Hours - Scottish Open Golf 2019
Please see details
Personal Licence Renewals
After the first round of renewal applications were due by 31/05/2019 the picture in East Lothian looks like the following:
271 were due for renewal
12 letters of reminder were returned as gone away
177 applied for renewal
5 of those who failed to renew were DPMs
The Scottish Licensed Trade Association - details are available from the new page in the side menu.
Licensing Workshop
The Lothians and Scottish Borders Division hosted a “Crime Scene preservation & Counter Terrorism Workshop”, which is supported by the National Licensed Trade Partnership and Best Bar None.
The event took place on the 5th of June 2019 at Dalkeith Miners Welfare club, Woodburn Road, Dalkeith at 1pm.
Counter Terrorism.
Terrorists come in many forms.There is no typical description of a terrorist and experience has it that your premises could be used by or targeted by an individual or threat group whose criminal desire is to influence public opinion in an extreme way. So the message is be prepared. Have in place response planning for your premises and staff. If you see something suspicious REPORT IT. The National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) provides invaluable information on 'Action Counters Terrorism' available at NaCTSO website and there is also free training on-line at ACT Awareness eLearning
Crime Scene Preservation
If an incident occurs at your premises - HELP Preserve the Evidence. Use the following link to check what you should do: HELP information
Personal Licence Renewals - If your Personal Licence is due for renewal in 2019 YOU MUST ACT NOW!
See the information on this topic at the foot of this page. The attached article from the Scottish Licensed Trade News 21/02/2019 sums the situation up. SLTN Article
Coming Up This Year -
- Renewals of Personal Licences granted on or before 01/09/2009 must be applied for by no later than 31st May 2019.
- Best Bar None 2019.
- Immigration Act checks are likely to be introduced.
- Mandatory Annual Fees to be paid by 1st October from now on or Licensees will automatically be called to review at the October Licensing Board to explain why a breach of their licence condition has occurred.
- New Festive Hours General Extension continues - see General Extensions in side menu.
- The Scottish Open Golf Championship will be held at the Renaissance Club, Dirleton in July. This will be followed by the Ladies Scottish Open Golf event.
Organisers of a public event need to be aware that a great deal of planning and organisation is required to run an event successfully. The safety of all involved and the compliance with a wide range of legislation must be considered. As an organiser, it must be remembered that, at all times, you are responsible for all aspects of the event under your control.
East Lothian Council chairs the Strategic Safety Advisory Group (SSAG) for events planned within its area. Organisers of public events should contact the SSAG without delay by emailing events@eastlothian.gov.uk and completing the notification form.
Please be aware that many events will attract the need to apply for a number of different types of licences such as a Public Entertainment Licence; Market Operators Licence; Occasional Licence (to sell and supply alcohol) and a Street Collectors Licence (to collect donations for a charitable cause). To ensure you are properly licensed to cover the activities you seek to provide please email a full description of what you want to do to Licensing@eastlothian.gov.uk and ask for guidance on what licences you require.
Best Bar None Award Winners have been decided. The winners will be notified and the list published here soon.
Personal Licence Renewal
17/10/2018 - Letters were sent out today to those Personal Licence Holders whose licences were issued by East Lothian Licensing Board on or before 1st September 2009 and are due for renewal. Please read your letter thoroughly and follow the guidance on renewal and refresher training precisely. A further reminder was sent out by the Licensing Office to those affected in March 2019.
Important – if your personal licence was issued on or before 1 September 2009 this applies to you and you need to act now!
Key dates –
31 August 2018 - Personal Licence Holders can apply to renew their personal licence
31 May 2019 – absolute deadline for submitting your personal licence renewal application, but if you leave it this late you risk losing your licence
1 September 2019 – expiry date for personal licences granted up to 1st September 2009
The fee for renewal was set by the Scottish Government at £50
Guidance on the renewal process was issued by the Scottish Government on 31 July 2018. The full details can be found at the following link - The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 - Personal Licence Holder Communications Document
