Interim Authority Notice/Transfer time periods - all about one day!

An application for judicial review, which was heard by the Administrative Court on 21 February 2014 following Westminster City Council’s refusal to consider a licence transfer application on the basis that it was made out of time, has been granted.

In order to prevent a premises licence lapsing due to insolvency, an interim authority notice was applied for by the claimant’s under s.47 Licensing Act 2003. That application was received on 2 August 2012. An application to transfer the licence then followed on 2 November 2012, which according to the claimants was within the three month time period as stipulated by the Licensing Act. The Local Authority refused to consider the application on the basis that the relevant period had ended a day earlier. 

It was argued by the claimants that the transfer application had been made within the three month interim authority period as the words of the section plainly excluded the day on which an interim authority notice had been received from the calculation of the time period.

It was held that the legislature could show its clear intention as to whether a specific day was included in calculating a time period by using plain words. The wording of the section identified the period as ending three months after the date of receipt of the interim notice. If the three month period was to include the day of receipt then this would have been specified. In this instance, however, the wording was held to be precise in describing time intervals. Further, it was highlighted that throughout the Act there were numerous examples where the initial day was either included or excluded from the relevant periods.

R (on the application of Bednash) v Westminster City Council