Apply to see whether premises under construction would be granted a premises licence for the sale of alcohol when completed.
Where premises are being, or are about to be, constructed or altered, applicants may apply for a provisional statement to see if they would be granted a premises licence after building works are complete. This gives applicants an idea whether or not the proposed business is viable before investing significant amounts of money.
If a provisional statement is granted, applicants will still need to apply for a premises licence in the normal way before the premises can be used for any licensable activities.
A person may apply for a provisional statement if:
The person applying for a provisional statement does not have to be the same person who may eventually apply for the premises licence.
You can apply for a provisional statement by completing an application form and sending it to us with:
There is a consultation period and you will need to advertise the application.
Please ensure that when applying online, you submit a set of the premises plans by uploading them with the application.
If you make an application online, you are not required to send a copy of the application to the Responsible Authorities, we will do this for you.
You can also apply for a new licence by downloading and completing an application form and sending it to us.
If you submit a paper application you must also send a copy to the Police, Fire, Public Health and Safeguarding Unit. You can find their contact details in the list of responsible authorities.
The fee for a provisional statement is £315.
Applications must be sent to the Licensing Authority for the area where the premises are located. If the premises extend over more than one Licensing Authority area the application must be made to the Licensing Authority in which the majority of the premises are situated. There is also a consultation period and you will need to advertise the application.
Applications may be made online or by post and include the following documents and submissions.
A schedule of works is provided within the specified application form and must be completed, it includes:
All applications for a provisional statement must be accompanied by a plan of the premises to which the application relates. For clarity, it is recommended that plans together with the prescribed features they contain be colour coded. The plan must be to a scale of 1:100 (unless otherwise agreed with the Licensing Authority).
For all applications for a provisional statement, the prescribed fee must accompany the application.
The Responsible Authorities and any Interested Parties have 28 days, beginning with the day after on which the provisional statement application is accepted, to raise a valid representation if they consider that the application would undermine the four licensing objectives.
If no objection is received against the provisional statement application, we will grant the provisional statement as requested. This will usually be done within 7 days from the close of the 28 day consultation period.
The total timescale for dealing with a provisional statement application (no objection received) is therefore expected to be no more than 35 consecutive days commencing with the correct receipt of all the paperwork (including all the copies of the application and plans to the Responsible Authorities) and the associated fee.
Following the grant of a provisional statement, the applicant will be required to make a premises licence application in readiness to commence trading.
It should be noted that if the premises licence application reflects the details of the granted provisional statement without significant changes, that unless relevant representations by Responsible Authorities and Interested Parties were made at the time of the application for Provisional Statement, that they cannot be considered again. This would only be possible if the premises licence application is considered significantly different in aspiration by us and then new grounds for possible representation may exist.
In all cases, an application for a provisional statement must be advertised by publishing a notice in a local newspaper. This advert must be published on at least one occasion within 10 working days of the application being accepted by the Licensing Authority.
The application must also be advertised by displaying a notice at or on the premises. This notice must be A4 or larger in size, pale blue in colour and located in such a position where it can be conveniently read from the exterior of the premises.
The notice must be printed legibly (font size 16), be printed or typed in black ink and must be displayed for a period of 28 consecutive days. For any premises covering an area more than 50 metres square, two A4 notices must be displayed.
All notices must contain a statement of the relevant licensable activities and timings that the applicant is applying for at the premises.
Failure to advertise the application in the prescribed manner may render the application invalid.
If a valid representation against one of the four licensing objectives is received from any of the Responsible Authorities or any Interested Parties, the applicant will be notified and we must hold a hearing to consider the representation/s.
The Committee would have to consider if the premises were constructed or altered in the way proposed in the schedule of works and if a premises licence were sought for these premises, it would consider it necessary for the promotion of the four licensing objectives. The burden would be on the Responsible Authority, or any Interested Parties to demonstrate to the committee that they believe the licensing objectives would not be promoted. In this case, the committee could either, reject the provisional statement application, attach conditions to the licence or rule out any licensable activities applied for. Otherwise, the provisional statement would be granted as requested and the applicant then needs to make a full premises licence application.
A right of appeal exists to the Magistrates' Court for all parties involved, including the applicant, Responsible Authorities and Interested Parties, however, it must be lodged with the Court within 21 consecutive days of the date of the notice of the decision.