National licensing week – positive partnerships

Claire Morris, Associate

It’s National Licensing Week and today’s theme is ‘positive partnerships’. As the national licensing framework states, positive partnerships are important because “…by prioritising partnership working, authorities can ensure that licensing supports safe, inclusive and economically resilient communities.”

When we think of positive partnerships, we naturally think of the formalised schemes and accreditations such as National Pubwatch; Best Bar None; Purple Flag and other more local initiatives. They are clearly a significant way of indicating the standards by which premises operates.

However, partnership working goes beyond such formalised schemes. They can be found in the everyday conversations, trusted relationships and a shared commitment between authorities and premises to work together to ensure premises can thrive whilst remaining compliant.

So, what else does good partnership working look like? Below are the pro-active steps that we typically see our clients adopting to build confidence and trust with authorities and other stake holders:

1. Informal communication – between premises, and with authorities. For example, if a venue notices issues emerging, then sharing information can prevent a small issue becoming a major issue.
2. Get to know your neighbours – this includes other premises, other businesses and residents. This obviously facilitates sharing intelligence (about, for example, vulnerable persons, aggressive customers, fake IDs and so on).  But in addition, a good relationship with residents can allow any issues to be addressed without being escalated to the responsible authorities.
3. Be visible and approachable – this creates opportunities for early and constructive dialogue. This can not only avoid an actual conflict developing, but it can also avoid any preceding perception that there is one.
4. Share good practice – there is always a lot of focus on ‘what went wrong’ but good practice is equally, if not more, valuable. Collaboration is about improving outcomes, so share ‘what works’. This can build up cumulative positive impact amongst operators.

In addition, the national licensing framework also sets out a series of expectations that reflect positive partnerships, all of which are underpinned by the above:

5. Early engagement and mediation – between authorities and premises, but also between premises and residents, can lead to resolution before a conflict beds in.
6. Collaborative problem solving – between authorities and businesses to develop solutions that manage risks but also allow operators to grow and innovate.
7. Graduated enforcement – starting with informal engagement and escalating to formal enforcement only where necessary, focussing on resolving the problem in hand, rather than penalising the business.
8. Transparent and inclusive processes – that are based on clear communication, shared evidence and inclusive engagement with stakeholders to ensure businesses and residents have meaningful and impactful opportunities to contribute to licensing policy and other more local decisions.
9. Permissive licensing – we all know the Licensing Act 2003 was designed to be permissive, rather than prescriptive. This includes encouraging premises to show how they will manage risks to the licensing objectives to a ‘reasonably practicable level’ , rather than imposing unnecessary constraints. It also includes ‘targeted oversight’ allowing licensing teams to triage premises visits and focus resources on those sites that require a more interventionist approach.
10. Business resilience and growth – more than ever, operators need to be able to adapt to changing customer expectations and be able to invest in innovation and diversification to ensure the longevity of their business. Licensing should support this by being proportionate, evidence-based and responsive. Authorities and businesses should work together to ensure licences are not unnecessarily burdensome and permit simplification where operators can show how licensing risks will be managed effectively.

There are undoubtedly more that can be added to the above list. But the key message is that positive partnerships will always remain at the heart of effective licensing, enabling regulators, businesses and communities to work together to promote safe, vibrant and well-managed places.

Contact our licensing team for more information.