§ Lords Amendment: In page 26, line 42, leave out from second "premises" to "(and" in line 44.
§ The Solicitor-GeneralI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
The Amendment has the effect of allowing an ordinary removal of a justices' licence from existing premises to any other premises, however far away and in whatever county they may be, subject to the approval of the justices in the receiving area. At present the law recognises two sorts of removal of a licence. The removal of a licence means taking the licence from the premises which are at present in enjoyment of it, and for which it is in force, and granting it in respect of other premises. The law recognises a special removal, as it is called, where the premises for which the licence was granted are about to be pulled down or occupied under any Act for the improvement of highways, or any other public purpose, or where the premises for which the licence was granted have been rendered unfit for use by fire, tempest or other unforeseen and unavoidable calamity.
Apart from those special removals, all other removals are ordinary ones. Under the present law the geographical scope of an ordinary removal is limited to the same county, under Section 24 (4) of the 1953 Act. Some doubt was expressed whether a licence can he moved over the boundaries of a county borough. Therefore, Clause 16 (3), to which the Amendment relates, enabled a licence to be removed from a county borough or a county to an adjoining county. That provision was inserted to meet a point urged by the Association of Municipal Corporations, the reason being that a county borough authority may often be redeveloping the centre of an old town, and it is very expensive for it to acquire licences that may have to be suppressed there. It is much less expensive and 868 more convenient if those licences in the centre of that old town can be moved to new premises in the area to which the population is being moved.
However, it has been further urged upon the Government by the Association, on reconsideration, that as the Clause stands it might not go far enough. We occasionally get overspills which leap a county. We can think of some of the arrangements made by the London County Council with some counties in the South of England, and I believe that the same situation applies to some of the Manchester areas.
It is for that reason that we propose to take out the words
in the same county or county borough or in a county or county borough adjoining that county or county boroughand to leave the matter absolutely at large. It will still be at the discretion of the licensing justices in the receiving area whether the licence can be removed. It is for them to say whether they are prepared, in their discretion and after hearing any objections, to allow a licence to be removed into their area. But if they are so willing the law will not prevent the removal merely on the ground that the two areas are not in adjacent counties.
§ Question put and agreed to.