Pavement licensing, alcohol off sales & A-boards

Pavement licences

Levelling Up & Regeneration Act 2023 and Business & Planning Act 2020

New permanent legislation has been introduced by HM Government to allow hospitality businesses to apply for a pavement licence to place tables and chairs on the public pavement to serve food and drink to their customers.

The new legislation consolidates the popular and successful temporary 'light touch' pavement licensing regime set up across the country by the Business & Planning Act 2020. Which was put in place by HM Government to assist businesses whilst Covid-19 restrictions were in place.

Schedule 22 of the Levelling Up & Regeneration Act 2023 sets up a permanent new pavement licensing regime that will still make it easy for premises serving food and drink such as bars, pubs, hotels, cafés and restaurants to seat and serve customers outdoors. This includes an already established but modified online fast-track licence application process. It still enables businesses to maximise their capacity, increase income, protect hospitality jobs and cater for the public's new found enjoyment of alfresco dining and socialising.

The changes the act has introduced include:

Permanently removing the responsibility for issuing pavement licences and enforcement from WSCC Highways Authority and placing it with the local Licensing Authority (Adur District and Worthing Borough Councils)
Increased responsible authority and public consultation and determination periods
New powers to remove unlicensed furniture
New powers for Licensing Authorities to set sustainable licence fees

Fees

The fees for a pavement licence under the new scheme are set on the number of outdoor covers on a simple tiered scale:.

All fees are required at time of application.

Premises that held a pavement licence under the old scheme that was valid on 30th January 2025 qualify under the new scheme as a renewal application and benefit from the reduced fees.

For fees and charges see:

Adur District Council's scheme will be launched from 1st February 2025. In most cases a licence will be granted for a maximum of 12 months from the date of approval.

Worthing Borough Council's scheme will be launched from 1st October 2025. In most cases a licence will be granted for a maximum of 2 years from the date of approval.

Interim arrangements:

All Worthing BC pavement licences in force on 30th January 2025 will automatically be extended until 30th September 2025 free of charge.
All Worthing BC pavement licences issued after 30th January 2025 and before the new scheme starts on 1st October will be issued free of charge, but will lapse on 30th September 2025.

Apply for a new pavement licence

Public houses, restaurants, cafés and other food establishments can apply to Adur & Worthing Councils for a pavement licence to place tables and chairs outside their premises for customers to sit to consume food and drink.

To apply for a pavement licence please use the online form below:

Apply for a pavement licence

Pavement licence guidance

Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council have issued statements of Pavement Licensing Policy to assist applicants, stakeholders and the public. HM's Government has issued guidance to accompany pavement licensing introduced by the Levelling Up & Regeneration Act 2023.

These documents can be found here:

They detail the conditions businesses will need to comply with and includes measures to address:

the needs of disabled people, which the councils must consider when determining whether to grant a pavement licence
licence holder's reasonable provision for outside seating where smoking is not permitted

You can also:

Search and view a list of pavement licence applications open for consultation

The new pavement licence removes the need to apply for a WSCC highway permit and constitutes deemed planning permission thus removing the requirement for a separate planning application. It also, in many cases, removes the requirement for a street trading licence or consent and thus streamlines the whole process.

The application process takes only 28 working days, including a 14 working day public consultation by displaying a public notice. The relevant authorities such as Sussex Police and the Highway Authority are also consulted.

Businesses are required to provide certain information with the application including:

a plan showing the location of the premises area shown by a red line, so the application site can be clearly identified
a plan clearly showing the proposed area covered by the licence in relation to the highway, if not to scale, with measurements clearly shown
the plan must show the positions and number of the proposed tables and chairs, together with any other items that they wish to place on the highway
the plan shall include clear measurements of, for example, pathway width/length, building width and any other fixed item in the proposed area
the proposed days of the week on which, and the times of day between which, it is proposed to put furniture on the highway
evidence of the right to occupy the premises (eg the lease)
photos or brochures showing the proposed type of furniture and information on potential siting of it within the area applied
evidence that the applicant has met the requirement to give notice of the application (for example photographs of the notice outside the premises and of the notice itself)
a copy of a current certificate of insurance that covers the activity for third party and public liability risks to a minimum value of £5 million, and
any other evidence needed to demonstrate how the local and national conditions, will be satisfied

If you have any queries please contact the councils' Licensing Unit at:

licensing.unit@adur-worthing.gov.uk

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Alcohol off sales

The Business & Planning Act 2020 brought in temporary changes to the Licensing Act 2003 allowing licensed premises such as public houses, bars, cafés and restaurants to serve alcohol to customers as 'off sales' even if the current premises licence does not permit it, in most cases, without having to apply for a variation of the premises licence.

The provisions in the Act temporarily modified the Licensing Act 2003 to provide an automatic extension to the terms of most premises licences which only permit the sale of alcohol for consumption 'on the premises' to allow the sale of alcohol for consumption 'off the premises'.

This off-sales permission allows off-sales to be made at a time when the licensed premises are open for the purposes of selling alcohol for consumption on the premises, subject to a cut-off time of 11pm or the closure time of an existing outside area, whichever is earlier.

The permission and any conditions attached to it are temporary. The permission will lapse on 31st March 2025.

If you wish to extend this permission the premises licence holder must apply for a variation to the premises licence.

Anyone looking for further information or guidance can contact the councils' licensing team on:

licensing.unit@adur-worthing.gov.uk

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A-boards

The placing of advertising A-Boards on the public pavement is not covered by Schedule 22 of the Levelling Up & Regeneration Act 2023 and the licensing of these boards continues to be a WSCC Highways responsibility under the Highways Act.

WSCC Highways can be contacted at: