Definition of licensing terms

Responsible authorities

Responsible authorities in the context of premises in Royal Greenwich are:

  • the Metropolitan Police (Greenwich Licensing)
  • Royal Borough of Greenwich Environmental Health Officer - Commercial
  • Royal Borough of Greenwich Environmental Health Officer - Pollution Control
  • Royal Borough of Greenwich Child Protection Team
  • Royal Borough of Greenwich Trading Standards Department
  • Royal Borough of Greenwich Planning Officer
  • the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority
  • the public health body (NHS).

View the list with full details

Other persons

'Other persons' are defined in the Licensing Act 2003 as a local councillor or as '...including any individual, body or business entitled to make representations to licensing authorities in relation to applications for the grant, variation, minor variation or review of premises licences and club premises certificates, regardless of their geographic closeness to the premises; in addition, these persons may themselves seek a review of a premises licence'.

Frivolous, vexatious and repetitious

A frivolous complaint is one so trivial that it would be unreasonable to consider. For example, a pub may have run without any problems for ten years, but on New Year's Eve have a noisy party ending at 1am. A complaint may also be frivolous if it cannot be related specifically to the event or premises concerned.

A complaint is vexatious if it's made as a result of a dispute between neighbouring residents and businesses, or put forward for the purposes of annoyance and oppression.

A complaint is defined as repetitious if it's identical or very similar to:

  • a ground for review already considered by the local authority
  • a representation made by a reasonable authority or interested party to the grant of a premises licence
  • a representation about a provisional statement that was excluded and a reasonable interval hasn't elapsed since it was made.