Gambling Premises Licences

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Premises Licence

The following is intended as a guide to making an application for a premises licence. Hyndburn Borough Council cannot take responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions. You may wish to seek your own independent legal advice before making any application to the Licensing Authority.

Before any application can be made for a Premises Licence, an application for a relevant Operating Licence must have been submitted to the Gambling Commission. Further details on Operating Licences and Personal Licences are available direct from the Gambling Commission. You should note that no Premises Licence will be granted before an appropriate Operating Licence has been granted.

An applicant must also have a legal right to occupy and utilise the licensed premises before you make an application.

To make an application for a premises licence, you must:

  • Complete the prescribed application form     To see more about how we record and store your information please see the Council’s privacy notice.
  • You must give notice of your application to each of the Responsible Authorities (see below)
  • In making your application you should have regard to our Statement of Policy and Principles
  • Include the prescribed fee which can be by cash, cheque or Postal Order made payable to Hyndburn Borough Council.  You can also pay by credit/debit card over the telephone
  • Include a plan of the premises.  The plan must be clear and legible in all respects and must show:

– The boundaries or perimeter of the premises
– Where the premises consist of one or more buildings, the location of the external or  internal walls of each building
– Where the premises forms part of a building, the location of the external or internal walls of the building which are included in the premises
– Where the premises are a vessel (boat) or a part of a vessel, the location of any part of the sides of the vessel and any internal walls which are
included in the premises
– The location of each entry and exit at the premises, including a description of the place from which the entry or to which the exit leads, and

Premises licences for the following activities have to show additional items on the plans. These are:

Bingo

  • The location and area of any part of the premises used to provide facilities for gaming (other than those parts which include Category B or C gaming machines);
  • The location and extent of any area in which Category B or C gaming machines will be made available for use; and
  • The nature and location of any barrier or other thing separating any area with Category B or C gaming machines from any other part of the premises.

Adult Gaming Centre

  • The location and extent of any part of the premises in which gaming machines will be made available.

Family Entertainment Centre

  • The location and extent of any part of the premises in which Category C gaming machines will be made available
  • The location and extent of the area in which Category D gaming machines will be made available, and
  • The nature and location of any barrier or other thing separating any area with Category C gaming machines from any other part of the premises.

Betting (other than a track)

  • The location and extent of any part of the premises which will be used to provide gambling facilities

Betting (tracks)

  • The location and extent of any other areas which will be used for providing betting facilities
  • The location and extent of any part of the premises in which Category B or C gaming machines will be made available
  • The nature and location of any barrier or other thing separating any area with Category B or C gaming machines from any other part of the premises

You must give notice of your application to each of the Responsible Authorities within seven days, starting on the date on which the application was made. If you do not do this, your application will be invalid. The notice must be in the form of notice for Responsible Authorities.

A notice must be published in a local newspaper (Accrington Observer or Lancashire Evening Telegraph) on at least one occasion during the period of ten working days starting on the day after the day on which the application was given. A copy of the newspaper advertisement should be forwarded to the Licensing Authority.

You must advertise your application at the premises with a site notice.  This notice must be displayed in a place where it can be conveniently read by members of the public from the exterior of the premises.  The notice must be displayed for a period of at least 28 days starting on the day the application was given to the Licensing Authority.

The Licensing Authority will check that:

  • The application is correctly completed
  • The Responsible Authorities have been notified
  • It has been advertised correctly

If there is a problem with the application, we may contact you for further information or return the application (or part of it) for your attention. Until these problems are solved your application is not valid and the consultation period will not start.

There is a legal 28 day consultation period during which representations can be made in relation to an application.   If we receive no representations within the 28 days, we will grant your application as applied for.

Where we receive relevant representations, we will hold a hearing of our Licensing Committee to decide on the application (unless all parties agree that a hearing is not necessary). We will advise you about the arrangements for the hearing.  We will aim to hold the hearing within 20 working days following the final date for the receipt of representations.

After the Licensing Committee has heard all parties it will make its decision. It may:

  • Grant the application
  • Grant the application with additional conditions
  • Reject the application

This decision is usually made at the time of the hearing. This will be confirmed in writing with the reasons for the decision along with information on what you need to do if you want to appeal.  Both the applicant and anyone making representations can appeal to the local magistrates’ court if they are dissatisfied with the decision.

The new licence will take effect either on the day it is approved or, if later, on the date you have requested.  The premises licence summary must be prominently displayed on the premises and a copy of the full licence is to be kept on the premises and therefore available for inspection.

A premises licence has no time limit and you will not need to apply again unless your circumstances change. However, you have to pay an annual fee every 12 months after the licence issue date. We will contact you one month before the fee is due with a reminder. The first annual fee is payable:

  • Within 30 days of the licence being issued; or
  • If you requested a particular date when the licence comes into effect, the first annual fee must be paid within 30 days of that date.

Failure to pay the annual fee will result in the revocation of the licence.

If you do not wish to continue with the premises licence you are required to confirm this in writing enclosing the original licence. If this is not possible you must provide a statement as to the why you cannot do so.