NALC urges the government to embed health and wellbeing in a modernised licensing system

We have called on the government to strengthen community involvement and prioritise public health in its reform of the alcohol licensing system.

In our response to the government's consultation on reforming the licensing system, we welcomed efforts to modernise and simplify the licensing process, however, meaningful reform must go further. We are urging the government to add a new health and wellbeing licensing objective to Section 4 of the Licensing Act 2003, giving local authorities greater scope to consider the broader impacts of alcohol consumption when making licensing decisions.

Currently, licensing authorities can only make decisions based on four statutory objectives: the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, the prevention of public nuisance, and the protection of children from harm. This framework does not adequately address the health and wellbeing impacts of alcohol misuse, which continue to affect life expectancy, local services, and community safety in many areas.

We also reiterated our call for parish and town councils to be recognised as full statutory consultees in all aspects of the licensing process, including during appeals, as the first tier of local government, parish and town councils are closely connected to their communities and often best placed to understand local concerns about licensing applications.

Our response also highlights the importance of transparency and accessibility in the licensing process. While supporting digital modernisation, we cautioned that removing requirements for public notices in local newspapers must be balanced with clear alternative methods of communication, such as council websites, newsletters, and social media channels, to maintain public awareness and scrutiny.

In addition, we identified Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) as an example of effective practice that could inform national policy. HWBs bring together leaders from across the health, care, and community sectors to improve local wellbeing and reduce health inequalities, offering a model that could strengthen the integration of public health within licensing decisions.

We concluded that the proposed reforms will have a limited impact on public health unless the government introduces the new health and wellbeing licensing objective and fully involves parish and town councils in decision-making. These changes would create a licensing system that better reflects local priorities, supports safer communities, and promotes long-term wellbeing.