Commentary on Sections Part 9 - Alcohol Licensing Section 179 - Premises licence applications: statements about disabled access etc.
749.This section amends section 20(2)(b) of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 (asp 16), to require applicants for a premises licence to provide a “disabled access and facilities statement”, in a form set out by Scottish Ministers, to the Licensing Board along with the licence application.
750.That statement is to contain information about disabled access to the subject premises and the facilities or any other provision available to aid the use of the premises by disabled people.
751.Failure to provide this statement is not a ground for refusing an application. Rather, it would mean the premises licence application would be incomplete. The application could not therefore be considered by the Licensing Board as it would not be a valid application under section 20(2). A premises application which is accompanied by the statement would require to be determined by the Licensing Board in the normal way according to section 23 of the 2005 Act.