About the Licensing Advice Project
The Licensing Advice Project (LAP) is provided by Citizens Advice Westminster. When Licensing Act 2003 came into force Westminster City Council wished to ensure that residents of City of Westminster had the opportunity to exercise their rights and responsibilities under the new regime, and in 2005 approached us with a view to us establishing an independent service to provide specialist advice to individual residents, businesses and residents’ groups who wished to comment on licence applications.
How it Works
The LAP provides a free, independent, impartial and confidential information, advice and representation service to interested parties in respect of rights and responsibilities relating to Licensing Act 2003 and related legislation; Gambling Act 2005; and Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982.
The LAP operates in accordance with the twin pillars of the Citizens Advice service, which are:
- To provide the advice people need for the problems they face
- To improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives
The service covers a range of issues including making a representation on a licence application of resolving problems with the current operation of a licensed premises. Sometimes this will be an outright objection to the grant of a licence, and sometimes it will be reaching an agreement with the applicant over hours, conditions, agreements etc, without the need for the time and expense of a hearing.
We can advise you by email, telephone or face-to-face, whichever is most convenient.
As well as individual members of the public, we are happy to advise residents associations and similar groups.