§ 69E.—(1) The licensing authority for any area shall refuse—
- (a) any application to the authority for an operator's licence; and
- (b) any application to the authority for the variation of an operator's licence of which notice has been published under section 68(4) or 69D(3) of this Act; without considering the merits of the application unless he is satisfied that notice of the application in such form and containing such information as may be prescribed has been published within the period mentioned in subsection (2) of this section in a local newspaper or newspapers circulating in each locality affected by the application.
§ (2) The period referred to in subsection (1) of this section is the period beginning twenty-one days before the date on which the application is made and ending twenty-one days after that date.
§ (3) For the purposes of this section a locality shall be taken to be affected by an application to a licensing authority for, or for the variation of, an operators's licence if it contains any place in the area of the authority which will be an operating centre of the holder of the licence if the application is granted, or (in the case of an application for variation) any existing operating centre of the holder of the licence to which the application relates.