Licensing Applications and role of annexed drawings

As we learn and change from terrible events we understand that the availability of the layout plans/drawings annexed to the Premise Licence may be changing.
The plans annexed to the licence at annex 4 provides a detailed layout of the premise and forms part of a public document which can be viewed by anyone from the Licensing register.

Flowing from the Manchester bombing and the new Protect Duty the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities' Summer Regulatory Update includes a section on what is known as “sensitive information”.

There already exists in the planning regime the concept of Sensitive Information in Planning Applications (SIPA) and it would appear that this protocol is to be extended to licensing by way of Sensitive Information in Licensing Applications (SILA) protocol.

Licensing Authorities may need to follow a light touch protocol in reviewing the access they make available to the public of layout plans and drawings annexed to licence applications and premises licences so as to mitigate against the risk of them being used “for malicious purposes”.

We will have to see how this works in the real world and if the protocol increases the bureaucracy experienced by operators but I think we would all agree that having the plans for large scale locations and events in the hands of those who seek to do harm should be prevented as far as possible