PLEASE NOTE THAT THE TRANSITIONAL PHASE HAS NOW ENDED. THE LICENSING AUTHORITY CAN NO LONGER ACCEPT APPLICATIONS TO CONVERT EXISTING LICENCES.
ANY LICENCE HOLDER WHO HAS MISSED THE 6 AUGUST 2005 DEADLINE MUST APPLY FOR A NEW LICENCE.
The Licensing Authority was able to receive applications under the Licensing Act 2003 from 7 February 2005 (the 'First Appointed Day'). Any licences granted as a result of the applications did not become effective until the 'Second Appointed Day', which the government set as 24 November 2005. The old licensing system remained in place until that date.
Existing licence holders should have applied to transfer their licences between 7 February and 6 August 2005. During that time, the terms and conditions of a licence could be converted to the new regime. The only party with a right of representation to those applications was the Police.
Licence holders were also able to apply to vary their existing licence during the transitional period. These applications were open to representation from other parties (as set out under 'Making a Representation').
Any person who held a Justices' liquor licence (ie, existing licensees) between 7 February and 6 August 2005 could apply to convert their licence into a Personal Licence. The application had to be made by 6 August 2005.
Phasing of applications
The Licensing Authority recognised that it had a limited amount of time to deal with an estimated 1300 premises. In an effort to control the workload, existing licence holders were asked to apply on an area basis as shown on the document below. Application packs were sent out to existing licence holders in accordance with this schedule.
