During this time of national crisis everyone involved in the Licensing profession is rightly concerned about the health of the industry. One of the many challenges facing the sector is how to keep the licensing process moving whilst abiding by isolation requirements. Conscious of this the Kings’ Licensing team has been working hard to develop an understanding of both the legality and practicality of Councils holding remote licensing hearings.
The Kings’ Licensing team are confident that remote hearings can work in the Licensing context and, with a view to demonstrating this, have recorded a mock Licensing Act 2003 application. The hearing was conducted and recorded using the web-based Zoom platform. The main purpose of the exercise is to reassure Councils, and all those involved in the trade that there is a way forward in these testing times; video technology can readily be used to facilitate Committee hearings.
The documents used, including draft procedure and guidance on using the technology can be found here:
The Licensing Team will follow up this practical demonstration with a live Question and Answer session to be held on Tuesday 7th April at 11 am. The purpose of the session will be for the team to give further information and highlight issues raised by the use of remote technology and to field any questions attendees have about remote hearings.
If you would like to ask a question of the team in advance of the Q + A please contact Jake Brooke at [email protected].
