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News Release 26th March 2004LICENCE FEES SHOULD NOT BE CHARGED TO COUNCIL TAX PAYERMichael Fabricant has written to Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for the Department of Culture Media & Sport, asking her to modify new licensing laws which could force council tax up. "Under the present system, pub and club licences are issued by magistrates" says Michael Fabricant. "The Government are now shifting this activity onto local councils and the fees for this work have been set by the Government. The problem is: the cost of inspecting premises and other work associated with issuing a licence doesn't begin to be covered by the scale of fees proposed by Tessa Jowell's ministry. So all the excess costs will, yet again, have to be subsidised by the poor, hard-pressed council tax payer. Lichfield District Council tell me that just 10% or so of the actual costs of evaluating and issuing a licence will be covered by the fees the publican will have to pay. "So I have asked that Lichfield and other councils should be allowed to set their own fees which truly reflect the cost. The only other alternative is that councils drop all the inspection procedures and just rubber stamp all pub and club licence applications. I do not think that would be welcomed by local residents in Lichfield who already suffer from the noise of late night revelry. I do not think that the Government has thought this one through." |
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