New powers to hike pub fees (From Stroud News and Journal)

New powers to hike pub fees

NEW licensing powers for Ebley Mill could force them to raid the public piggybank despite huge rises in the amount of fees landlords have to pay.

Council licensing officers have warned there is likely be a gap in their budget despite plans for license charges to rise from £30 to nearly £5,000 for the largest town centre pubs.

Pub landlords in Stroud have expressed concern at the new system, which will see licensing powers for drink and entertainment handed to Stroud District Council rather than the courts.

"Personally I was totally happy with the magistrates system," said Ian Morrison, licensee at the Retreat in Stroud. "It was non-political. When you start putting it into the hands of the council you never know where there will be a political agenda.

"We knew it was coming and it is going to be a huge increase but the council will have huge costs in this too. The running costs are still going to be in excess of the money that is going to be coming in."

Charges are set to rise dramatically to give the council enough cash to pay for the new system, including replacing the old tariff of £30 for a three-year drink licence with yearly payments of £40 to £225.

And moves by culture secretary Tessa Jowell could see fees hiked even more, with the largest town centre pubs paying an application fee of £1,905 and a further £1,050 a year.

But despite the inflated fees there is still likely to be a budget gulf which would have to come from the council's emergency funding, according to finance cabinet member Stephen Glanfield.

"We would have to take it out of the contingency account," he said. "We do not want to use it but we still have no idea what licenses are going to cost."