Member

The Licensing Act 2003 regulations has not been updated in 20 years, and temporary event notices are one big area of that. Hackney council processes around 2,000 temporary event notices each year—a number of those repeatedly for some premises—which leaves a deficit. The council tax payer, the Government and other taxpayers are funding that deficit, which does not seem reasonable. It was right that the temporary event notice came in as a quick route for small community businesses, but the Government should look at this area. The council needs a cost-recovery model at the very least. It is not asking to make money on this, but if perpetual licences become standard, that would be a large reduction in money available.