Cookies on Legislation.gov.uk

The cookies on legislation.gov.uk do two things: they remember any settings you've chosen so you don't have to choose them on every page, and they help us understand how people browse our website, so we can make improvements and fix problems. We need your consent to use some of these cookies.

Search Legislation

Advanced Search

Business And Planning Act 2020

Contents

Legal background

Outdoor seating
  1. Businesses selling food and drink such as cafes, pubs and restaurants can apply to the local council for a "pavement licence" allowing them to put furniture such as tables and chairs outside on the highway for their customers to consume their food and drink. The present procedure for the grant of a "pavement licence" is set out in Part 7A of the Highways Act 1980. London boroughs can also choose to opt into a procedure set out in the London Local Authorities Act 1990. The City of Westminster operates its own procedure set out in the City of Westminster Act 1999.
  2. The Act will provide a new streamlined procedure enabling businesses serving food and drink to apply for a temporary pavement licence. This will be a bespoke procedure, outside those Acts. In addition to a pavement licence, some local councils require the business to also apply for planning permission on the basis that putting tables and chairs on the highway is a change of use of the land. The Act provides that where a temporary pavement licence is granted, any necessary planning permission is automatically deemed to have been granted.
Alcohol licensing
  1. The Licensing Act 2003 makes provision for the regulation of the sale and supply of alcohol, including the granting of premises licences. Should a licensee with permission to sell alcohol only for consumption on the premises ("on-sales") wish to sell alcohol for consumption off the premises ("off-sales"), they are required to apply for a variation of their licence. The Act modifies the Licensing Act 2003 to allow eligible holders of an on-sales licence an automatic grant of the off-sales permission for a limited period. The provisions will also apply temporary conditions to licences where there is a pre-existing permission for off-sales. These will enable those premises to operate in the same ways as those that are granted the new permission by suspending existing conditions that are more restrictive. The Act also provides for off-sales reviews to take place on grounds which are relevant to the licensing objectives. The licensing objectives are set out in section 4(2) of the Licensing Act 2003. As a result, an off-sales review can take place if there are problems relating to crime and disorder, public nuisance, public safety or the protection of children associated with the new permission or its associated conditions.
Bounce Back Loans Scheme
  1. Sections 140A to 140C of the CCA deal with a relationship arising out of a credit agreement between a lender and a borrower that is unfair to the borrower.
  2. Section 140A of the CCA sets out the circumstances where a court can make an order in relation to any credit agreement where it determines that the relationship between the creditor (lender) and the debtor (borrower) arising out of the agreement (including any related agreement) is unfair to the debtor. The unfairness may arise because of one or more of the following:

    3. 1. any of the terms of the agreement or of any related agreement;

    2. the way in which the lender has exercised or enforced any of their rights under the agreement or any related agreement;

    3. any other thing done (or not done) by or on behalf of the lender (either before or after the making of the agreement or any related agreement).

  3. The powers of the court are broad where it determines that the relationship is unfair to the borrower. Under section 140B the court can, in particular:

    4. 1. require the lender to repay the whole or part of any sum paid by the borrower;

    2. reduce or discharge any sum payable by the borrower;

    3. set aside (in whole or part) any duty imposed on the borrower;

    4. alter the terms of the agreement or any related agreement.

  4. This Act amends section 140A of the CCA to provide that an order by the court cannot be made under section 140B of the CCA in connection with a loan made under the BBLS. Given that sections 140A to 140C of the CCA only apply to individuals (such as sole traders), unincorporated bodies of persons and partnerships of fewer than four partners, the effect of the amendment made by this Act will only apply to that group of borrowers too.
Goods, passenger and public service vehicles

Certificates of exemption for public service and goods vehicles

  1. Sections 48(4) and 53(5) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 confer powers on the Secretary of State to make regulations governing the issue of certificates of temporary exemption, which allow a vehicle to be used on a road without a test certificate. .
  2. The test certificate requirement is imposed on the users of motor vehicles other than goods vehicles by section 47(1) and on the users of goods vehicles by section 53(1) and (2).
  3. Goods vehicles and public service vehicles adapted to carry more than eight passengers cannot (as a general rule) be used on a road unless a test certificate has been issued within the past year. Certificates of temporary exemption were issued to all such vehicles that were due to be tested from late March 2020 onwards following disruption to the testing regime caused by Covid-19. This disruption created excessive test demand in the following months as scheduled tests and delayed tests fall due.
  4. The Department for Transport and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) have decided to manage this excessive demand in a manner that prioritises road safety. Certificates of temporary exemption will be issued for safer vehicles (such as newer vehicles kept by operators with high assessed standards) and the resulting capacity in the testing regime will ensure that vehicles with higher risk profiles or kept by operators with poor compliance records (as assessed by the DVSA) are tested on schedule.
  5. The existing powers in the Road Traffic Act 1988 allow for certificates of temporary exemption to be issued in prescribed circumstances. These powers are being expanded to provide a clear basis for taking factors such as the DVSA’s assessment of risk into account and to allow for the revocation of certificates (if, for example, a vehicle with a certificate is transferred to a less reputable operator).
  6. Issuing certificates of temporary exemption on the basis of the potential risk to road safety posed by particular vehicle operators will necessarily involve the exercise of judgement by the DVSA. Paragraph (c) of the inserted subsections (4A) and (5A) has been included to clearly allow for this. This is the most significant expansion of the enabling powers.

Temporary reduction in duration of certain driving licences

  1. For Great Britain the power to require a medical report is set out in legislation.

    Reference: Regulation 10(5) of the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999

    An applicant for a Group 2 licence shall, if required to do so by the Secretary of State, submit in support of his application a report (in such form as the Secretary of State may require) signed by a qualified medical practitioner, prepared and dated not more than four months prior to the date on which the licence is to take effect, for the purpose of satisfying the Secretary of State that he is not suffering from a relevant or prospective disability.

  2. In accordance with this provision, there is already the power to waive the requirement for a signed medical report.
  3. However, the periods for which licences can be issued are set out in primary legislation. These refer to both the administrative validity period (AVP) of a licence, and the underlying age-related period for which a licence can remain in force, known as the "entitlement period" to drive a particular category of vehicle. Whatever AVP a licence is issued for, it legally expires at the point that the driver’s age-related entitlement expires. The requirement for a medical report is linked to the first issue of a licence and its renewal after the age of 45.
  4. The duration of licences is governed by provisions in the Road Traffic Act:

    Reference: Section 99(1A) of the Road Traffic Act 1988

    In so far as a licence authorises its holder to drive any prescribed class of goods vehicle or passenger-carrying vehicle, it shall, unless previously revoked, suspended or surrendered, remain in force-

    (a) except in a case falling within paragraph (c) or (d) of this subsection-

    i) for the period ending on the forty-fifth anniversary of the applicant’s date of birth or for a period of five years, whichever is the longer, or

    (ii) where the applicant’s age at the date on which the licence is to come into force will exceed forty-five but not sixty-five years, for the period ending on the sixty-sixth anniversary of the applicant’s date of birth or for a period of five years, whichever is the shorter,

    (b) except in a case falling within paragraph (d) of this subsection, where the applicant’s age at that date will exceed sixty-five years, for a period of one year,

    (c) except in a case falling within paragraph (b) or (d) of this subsection, if the Secretary of State so determines in the case of a licence to be granted to a person appearing to him to be suffering from a relevant or prospective disability, for such period of not more than three years and not less than one year as the Secretary of State may determine, and

    (d) in the case of a licence granted in exchange for a subsisting licence and in pursuance of an application requesting a licence for the period authorised by this paragraph, for a period equal to the remainder of that for which the subsisting licence was granted,

    and any such period shall begin with the date on which the licence in question is expressed to come into force.

  5. The duration of licence entitlement from age 45 is generally governed by section 99(1A)(a)(ii) and is 5 years. Once the driver reaches 65, it is governed by section 99(1A)(b) and is already 1 year. There is also a power to issue licence entitlement for 1 year under section 99(1A)(c) of the Act, but this only applies where it is identified that the licence holder has a relevant medical condition. There is no provision in law to manage road safety risks by limiting the duration of licence entitlement where it is governed by section 99(1A)(a)(ii).
Planning
  1. The legislation which this Act amends is set out in a number of Acts of Parliament. This legislation is referred to below. Further explanations, where required, are set out in the section-by-section commentary.
  2. The principal planning Act is the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 ("1990 Act"). This Act makes several modifications of, or amendments to, the 1990 Act, as well as modifications of, or amendments to, the following other legislation related to planning:
    1. Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990;
    2. Planning (Hazardous Substances) Act 1990;
  3. Greater London Authority Act 1999.

Back to top