Section 77 – Deemed grant of applications
243.The section modernises and expands the requirement for licensing authorities to deal with matters expeditiously. Failure to do so has the result that the application will be deemed to have been authorised. The expanded requirement also includes applications for variations to a licence so that a failure to take a decision within the specified timescale would have the effect that the variation would be deemed to have been agreed.
244.Section 3 of the 1982 Act is amended to modernise the language to provide greater clarity of the requirement to consider an application within three months and then reach a final decision within a further six months.
245.Section 3(4) is amended to include variations and to clarify the language used to describe the effect of a failure of a licensing authority to reach a decision.
246.A new subsection (4A) is inserted in section 3 of the 1982 Act to specify the duration of a licence or temporary licence granted under the ‘deemed grant provisions’.
247.A new subsection (4C) is inserted in section 3 of the 1982 Act to clarify that a licence issued under these provisions is not immune to the separate powers of a licensing authority to vary, suspend or revoke licences or to consider renewal.
248.A new section 45D is added to the 1982 Act to replicate these provisions in relation to sex shops and sexual entertainment venues.