BII chief urges action from Government to avert licensing disaster

John McNamara, the chief executive of the BII, the professional body for the licensed retail sector, today called upon the Government to get round the table with the licensed trade before the Licensing Act becomes a disaster.

Mr McNamara addressed an audience of over 1000 key members of the industry at the BII Annual Luncheon held today in London.

Whilst hailing the success of the BII over the last year, with record number of qualifications and membership figures soaring, he spoke of the serious problems the trade is encountering with the implementation of the new Licensing Act.

"Licensees are struggling to get their applications in on time due to outside factors. We hear that only 5% of applications have been received to date. The Government needs to understand why. Licensees have had to contend with late submission of regulations and difficulty in getting plans, in some cases experiencing a two month wait.

"The BII urges the Government to extend the second appointed day, expected to be 7 November 2005, and to pass a Single Clause Bill to extend the date for ‘Grandfather’ rights. The industry needs help with this complex process and does not want to be pushed into a position where licensees are without licenses and operating illegally."

John McNamara also touched upon the issue of smoking in pubs. He cited the successful example of European countries generally supporting a system of self regulation rather than the method implemented in Ireland. And he urged the UK Government, the Welsh Assembly and the Scottish Parliament to consider this approach.