Local authorities can continue charging businesses for the cost of enforcement as well as the cost of processing a licensing application, the Supreme Court has held in a case involving a sex shop in Westminster.
Shop owner Timothy Hemming argued that it breached EU law for licensing authorities to charge applicants for the cost of enforcement. The Court of Appeal found in Hemming’s favour, but their decision was overturned last week by the Supreme Court, in Hemming (R, on the application of) v Westminster City Council [2015] UKSC 25.
This issue affected all bodies who operate a licence scheme within the terms of the Provision of Services (POS) Regulations 2009 and the Services Directive 2006/123. The Treasury, the Local Government Association and the Law Society all intervened in the case.
Delivering the lead judgment, Lord Mance said: “There is no reason why [a licence fee] should not be set at a level enabling the authority to recover from licensed operators the full cost of running and enforcing the licensing scheme, including the costs of enforcement and proceedings against those operating sex establishments without licences.”
Hemming also argued that it was not lawful for Westminster to charge the full £29,435 cost of the licence on application, even though £26,435 would be refunded if the application was unsuccessful. The Supreme Court has referred this point to the European Court of Justice.
