Licensing and planning are separate decisions

A premises licence and a planning permission are two different decisions, taken by two different parts of the same council, under two different Acts, on two different sets of criteria. Licensing versus planning objection is therefore not a choice. If a new bar near you concerns you, there are usually two processes running, each with its own deadline, and a point made in the right language to each carries weight that the same point made once does not.

The council will not join them up for you. Guidance under the Licensing Act is explicit that licensing is not a mechanism for duplicating planning control.

What each regime decides

Planning decides whether the development or the change of use is acceptable in land use terms. It looks at the development plan first, by virtue of section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, and then at other material considerations. The output is a permission, usually with conditions, attached to the land rather than to the operator.

Licensing decides whether a named person may carry on licensable activities at the premises: selling alcohol, providing regulated entertainment and serving late night refreshment. The output is a premises licence with conditions, held by a licence holder, and it says nothing about whether the use of the building is lawful in planning terms.

That difference produces the awkward outcome people find hardest to accept. A business can hold a valid premises licence and still be operating in breach of planning control, and it can hold planning permission and be refused a licence.

The licensing objectives compared with planning considerations

Licensing has four statutory objectives and nothing else is relevant: preventing crime and disorder, public safety, preventing public nuisance, and protecting children from harm.

Planning has no closed list. Material considerations include amenity, highway safety, parking, the character of the area, the mix of uses in a frontage, heritage impact, noise and odour, and the policies of the development plan.

The overlap is narrower than it looks:

Need and competition are irrelevant to both. An objection that a town already has enough bars, framed as a commercial point, will be disregarded in each forum.

Who may object under each

In licensing, two groups can make representations. Responsible authorities, which include the police, the fire and rescue authority, environmental health, trading standards, the child protection body, the local planning authority itself and the director of public health. And other persons, which since the vicinity test was removed means any person, with no requirement to live nearby, although proximity affects the weight given.

In planning, anyone may comment. The authority publicises applications by site notice, neighbour letter or advertisement depending on the type, and comments from outside the immediate area are accepted though usually given less weight.

One point worth knowing. The planning authority is itself a responsible authority for licensing purposes, so it can make representations about a licence application, and it will sometimes point out that the planning use is unlawful or that a condition restricts the hours.

Different deadlines and hearings

The timetables differ and this is where objections get missed.

A licensing application must be advertised by a notice at the premises and in a local newspaper, and representations must be made within 28 consecutive days beginning the day after the application is given to the licensing authority. That period is strict. A representation a day late is not considered, which is not the case in planning practice.

Planning publicity runs for 21 days, and in practice authorities accept comments until the decision is made, which can be weeks later. A late comment on a planning application usually still gets read.

If relevant representations are made on a licence application, the licensing authority must hold a hearing before a sub-committee of councillors, and you can attend and speak. Planning applications go to committee or are decided by officers under delegated powers, and whether you can speak depends on the council's own scheme. Appeals differ too: a licensing decision is appealed to the magistrates' court within 21 days, while a planning decision is appealed to the Planning Inspectorate, and the routes for third parties are set out in our note on taking part in an appeal as an interested party.

Where a licence is granted and permission is not

This happens more often than it should, usually because an operator applies for the licence first to secure the trading hours and leaves planning until later.

A licence does not authorise a breach of planning control. If the use requires permission and does not have it, the council can take enforcement action under the planning Acts regardless of the licence, and the licence does not weigh in the planning decision. Equally, a planning condition restricting opening hours prevails over longer hours in a licence, because the operator cannot lawfully use the premises outside the permitted hours.

The reverse case is also common. Planning permission for a restaurant does not guarantee a licence to sell alcohol until 01:00, and the police may have views the planning officer never considered.

So if you are commenting on one process, check the register for the other. Our guide to following an application through the public register covers the planning side, and licensing registers are published separately on the same council website.

Making the same point to both

Translate the concern into each regime's language rather than sending the same letter twice.

Take noise from customers leaving at closing time. For licensing, that is public nuisance, and the useful asks are a dispersal policy, earlier closing of any external area, a limit on outdoor drinking after a stated time, door supervision on specified nights and a requirement to display signage. For planning, the same facts support an hours condition on the use of the premises and on the external area, conditions on the extraction and plant specification, and a requirement for a management plan.

Be specific and evidential in both. Dates, times, what you heard or saw, and the effect on your household. Generalised objection carries little weight in either forum, and in licensing a representation that does not engage with one of the four objectives may be ruled irrelevant.

Where you are engaging before an application is made, both routes are easier, as our note on getting involved before applications are submitted sets out. An applicant's Statement of Community Involvement records that engagement on the planning side.

Conditions available under each

Licensing conditions attach to the licensable activities and the premises operation: hours for each activity, capacity, door supervisors, CCTV with retention periods, no vertical drinking, a dispersal policy, challenge age schemes, incident logs and refusal registers.

Planning conditions attach to the use and the building: hours of opening and of use of external areas, restrictions on the extraction system and its specification, plant noise limits expressed against background, delivery and collection hours, bin storage, no amplified sound outside, and limits on the floor area given to a particular activity.

Neither regime can do the other's job. Licensing cannot change the use class or require a flue to be extended. Planning cannot stop the sale of alcohol or require a door supervisor. Knowing which door to knock on is most of the skill. Browse all 66 report types on PlanScope to see what an applicant is expected to submit on the planning side.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.