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Pavement Licences: a Note from NTIA Expert Matthew Phipps, TLT Solicitors

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Matthew Phipps, Partner at TLT Solicitors, Head of Licensing England and Wales, and NTIA Expert notes legislation changes and advice around Pavement Licences post the Queens Speech announced in Parliament on the 10 May 2022:

As part of the 2022 Queens Speech, announced in Parliament on the 10 May 2022, the Government has made a commitment to introduce legislation for the provision of pavement licences to be made permanent.

At the present time the scheme of pavement licences comes to an end on the 30 September 2022. Any current application for a pavement licence carries with it a fee of no more than £100. The pavement licence regime does not require planning permission.

In the draft legislation that we have seen, post the 30 September 2022, the fee proposals for pavement licences would be:

  • £350, in the case of an application which is made by a person who already holds a pavement licence, and  is in respect of the premises to which that existing licence relates (whether or not it is a renewal application), and
  • £500 in any other case

There is provision in the draft bill for the above fees to be substituted with a “different” (higher one anticipates) amount

In addition, draft proposals will give local authorities power to grant pavement licences for a period of up to 2 years (currently pavement licences can be granted for a period of no less than 4 months and no longer than 1 year).

Advice

Whilst the proposals are still to be debated and the Bill to become law our advice is that

  • Where premises have an existing pavement licence that expire before the end of September 2022, reapplications should be submitted so as to extend the life of the current permission through to the end of September 2022
  • Where you still hold tables and chairs licences, in advance of the renewal of these permissions you should look to convert these to pavement licences. In most cases the application for a pavement licence will be lower than that for the renewal of a tables and chairs licence.. Furthermore, you will be able to take advantage of the reduced application fee post 30 September 2022
  • Certain existing tables and chairs permissions may authorise street furniture not permitted by the current pavement licence regime (A boards for example) and inn these circumstances you should be applying for both a pavement licence and renewal of your tables and chairs licence so as to protect what you are currently permitted to place on the public highway
  • Where your tables and chairs licence is dependent on a planning permission and the planning permission authorises for example the placing of an A board on the public highway, the planning permission will need to be renewed. In all other cases there will be no requirement to renew your planning permission once your new pavement licence is in place
  • Where no tables and chairs or pavement licence is currently in place you should consider making an application for a new pavement licence as soon as possible.

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