From 1 October 2006, Amendments to the Noise Act mean all licensed premises will need to be extra vigilant in preventing excessive noise on their premises.

The Act states that an offence is committed by the “responsible person” for those licensed premises where, after the service of a warning notice, noise which exceeds the “permitted level” is emitted from those premises in the period specified in the warning notice. It will be for the Secretary of State to prescribe the “permitted level” of noise from licensed premises.

The responsible person for the licensed premises is defined in the Act, but generally, it will be the most senior person present on the licensed premises at the time the offence is committed. In practice, this is likely to be the holder of the premises licence, or, where alcohol is sold, the designated premises supervisor .

The immediate effect is that not only will those responsible for licensed premises be subjected to new and additional enforcement powers relating to noise, but the local authority will be able to impose such enforcement and penalties more speedily and effectively.

As if these new powers were not enough, licensees responsible for noisy premises also face the possibility of their premises licence being reviewed under the new review provisions of the Licensing Act 2003 with the risk of their premises licence being suspended, or even worse, revocation of their premises licence.

The impact of noise on licensed premises is set to increase with the introduction in the New Year of laws prohibiting smoking in public places.

Already a number of licensed establishments, in anticipation of the ban on smoking, are applying for permissions to erect outside smoking areas for their customers on their premises.

All this will simply serve to add to the noise factor for licensed premises.

If you would like more information please contact Paul Trincas on 01635 521212 or paul.trincas@clmlaw.co.uk