Liquor Licensing

The Moray Licensing Board is the licensing authority for the Moray area and is responsible for Premises Licences, Occasional Licences and Personal Licences.

Each Local Authority in Scotland is required to appoint a licensing board for the administration of licensing with respect to the sale and supply of alcohol liquor. The Licensing Board meets at regular intervals (approximately each 8 weeks) to discharge its functions in terms of the licensing of alcohol sales and the provision of gambling facilities. All licensing board meetings are held in public.

CHANGES TO OUR LICENSING SERVICES

Licensing Board Meetings

Meetings of the Licensing Board are currently being held remotely through ConnectRemote, If you have an application being heard at a Licensing Board meeting and are required to attend you will be notified by email if you provided an email address or in writing if you did not provide an email address.

Submitting Applications

Moray Council Access points remain closed however applications can be lodged by email to Licensing@moray.gov.uk or by post to Moray Council, LicensingSection, Governance Strategy and Performance, Council Office, High Street, Elgin IV30 4GL.

If you lodge an application by email you will need to arrange for payment to be made. Details of how to make payment can be found here http://www.moray.gov.uk/moray_standard/page_53506.html. Please do not send cash by post.

The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 contains a considerable number of strict timescales and deadlines with little or no discretion available to relevant authorities if they not adhered to. With both businesses and licensing authorities under unprecedented disruption as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, it is likely that people could lose their licences through no fault of their own.

The licensing provisions in the Coronavirus Act are intended to provide additional flexibility and discretion to help minimise licence holders (such as individuals and businesses) and other key licensing interests being adversely affected.

The relevant provisions include:

Premises Licence Holders

The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 allows licensed premises to offer takeaway and deliveries even where it is not included in the operating plan of the premises. Where the premises sell food and are licensed for off sales of alcohol, the delivery of alcohol with food is also permitted. Licence holders are reminded that deliveries of alcohol are subject to compliance with the appropriate provisions within the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005.

Change of Premises Manager

Underthe Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 amendments, Premises Licence holders will have a period of 28 days in which to notify the departure of a Premises Manager to the Board, and a period of 3 months in which to submit a minor variation to appoint a new Premises Manager without the Premises Licence being affected. (These periods were previously 7 days and 6 weeks respectively).

Personal Licence Holders

Renewal applications

The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 amendments allow Personal Licence holders to submit renewal applications any time during the period of 12 months prior to expiry of their licence up until the date prior to expiry (due to coronavirus related reasons). The Board also has an extended period to consider renewal applications (six months from the date of expiry). A Personal Licence will remain in place during that time until the renewal application has been decided by the Board if the renewal application has been submitted timeously.

Refresher Training

The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 amendments allow the Board to extend the period for completing refresher training if a Personal Licence holder has been unable to do so due to coronavirus related reasons. Extensions can apply to both the requirement to complete refresher training and to submit evidence of completed refresher training to the Board. At the present time the Board has not decided on any specific period of extension and individual licence holders should contact the Board directly if unable to complete training requirements setting out their reasons why this is the case.

The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 can be found on the Scot Gov website https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-alcohol-and-civic-licensing/.

The business of the Licensing Board is advertised on this website.

Moray Licensing Board Information