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Wealden Home  >  Business  >  Licences and Registers  >  Alcohol and Entertainment Licensing  >  Temporary Events

Temporary Events

Licence Summary

A Temporary Event Notice is a notification given by an individual of their intention to engage in one or more licensable activities, such as sale of alcohol or the provision of entertainment, subject to fulfilling certain conditions.

Your event must not involve more than 499 people at any one time and it must not last for more than 168 hours. Consecutive Notices cannot be issued to the same person, or their associates, for the use of the same premises. There must be a minimum of 24 hours between such Notices.

Should you wish to hold such an event, and it is not authorised by a Premises Licence or a Club Premises Certificate, you must submit a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) to your Local Authority no later than ten working days beforehand.

There are two types of TENs, Standard or Late, and different criteria apply to each. See below for details.

If the premises where the event is to be held is in an area bordering two or more Local Authorities areas, then notifications must be given to each Local Authority, each Council Pollution Control Team and each Chief of Police.

Eligibility Criteria

You must be at least 18 years old.

If you do not hold a Personal Licence issued under the Act then you are restricted to a maximum of no more than five TENs per calendar year, two of which may be Late TENs.

Personal Licence Holders are entitled to give a maximum of 50 TENs per calendar year, 10 of which may be Late TENs.

In both cases, you will have to declare in your notification the number of TENs previously submitted.

Restrictions on the number of TENs also apply to premises. There may be no more than 15 TENs per premises or an aggregated total of 21 days per calendar year.

Standard TEN

One copy of the Notice, accompanied by the application fee, must be delivered to the Licensing Authority at the address below, at least 10 working days prior to the event. A further copy must be delivered to the Chief Officer of Police at the same time.

Late TEN

A Notice which is delivered to the Licensing Authority, and the Chief Officer of Police, no earlier than nine working days and no later than five working days prior to the event, will be accepted as a Late TEN. However, please note that strict timescales apply. To avoid disappointment, careful attention should be paid to the deadlines detailed under "How to Apply". The five working day minimum excludes both the date of receipt and the date of the event itself.

No refunds are made for incorrect notifications.

The following guidance applies to both types of Notice:

The law requires that late or incomplete Notices must be rejected.

The Notice must be in a specific format and should contain:

  • Details of the licensable activities
  • The event period
  • The times the activities will take place
  • The maximum number of people to be allowed on the premises
  • Any other required matters

    • Regulation Summary

    A Summary of TENs Regulation (external link) been produced by The National Archives.

    Application Evaluation Process

    On receipt of your Notification, the Licensing Authority will validate and return the Notice to you. The validated Notice does not have to be displayed, but must be available to view (eg on phone/tablet/laptop), at the premises to which it relates, for the duration of the event.

    If either the Chief Officer of Police, or the Council's Pollution Control Team, believes the event would undermine the Licensing Objectives, then they may serve an Objection Notice on the Licensing Authority and the premises user. This Notice must be served within three working days of their receipt of the TEN, which may not necessarily be the day that the Licensing Authority received your application.

    Where an Objection Notice is served, then we will hold a Hearing. If it is considered appropriate for the promotion of the Licensing Objectives, then the Licensing Authority may issue a Counter Notice, which invalidates the TEN.

    If the Licensing Authority considers that it is not appropriate to issue a Counter Notice, it may serve a Notice of Conditions. It can only do so where the premises concerned is the holder of a Premises Licence or Club Premises Certificate and the Licensing Authority consider that it is appropriate that the relevant conditions on the Licence/Certificate should be attached to the TEN.

    A decision must be made at least 24 hours before the beginning of the event.

    The Chief Officer of Police or the Council's Pollution Control Team may, after serving an Objection Notice as above, modify the TEN with the consent of the premises user. In such a case the Objection Notice will then be deemed to have been withdrawn.

    In the case of a Late TEN, in the event of an Objection Notice being received from the Chief Officer of Police or the Council's Pollution Control Team, then the Licensing Authority will issue a Counter Notice immediately without holding a Hearing.

    Counter Notices may also be served by the Licensing Authority in a number of other circumstances, such as, when the number of permitted events has exceeded the premises or personal limit.

    Tacit Consent

    Tacit Consent does apply to TENs.

    You will be able to act as though your application is granted if you have not heard from the Local Authority by the end of the target completion period. For Wealden District Council the target completion period for a TEN is 10 working days from receipt of the application.

    How to Apply

    One copy of the TEN must be received in writing, either online or by post, by the Licensing Authority and the Chief Officer of Police at least ten working days before the event. Please note when calculating the ten working days that no account can be taken of either the day on which the notification is received, or the first day of the event. Bank Holidays and weekends are not regarded as working days.

    In respect of Late TENs, these time limits are reduced to no earlier than nine working days and no later than five working days before the event. As above, no account can be taken of the day on which the notification is received or the first day of the event, and Bank Holidays and weekends are not regarded as working days. For example, if an event is to take place on Saturday or Sunday, the Licensing Authority and Chief Officer of Police must have received applications on or before the previous Friday. 

    The Licensing Authority will submit a copy of your application (postal or online) to the Council's Pollution Control Team.

    A fee of £21 is payable with the Notice.

    Apply Online

    Because TENs are covered by the European Services Directive you can apply online through the gov.uk website:

    Online applications are quick and easy and you no longer need to be registered on the Government Gateway to make online applications. If you apply online there is no need to send a copy to the Chief Officer of Police.

    Apply by Post

    You can also apply by post by downloading our application form and returning one copy to the address below and one to the Chief Officer of Police. Contact details for the police can be found on our Responsible Authorities page. Cheques should be made payable to Wealden District Council:

    Licence Holder Redress

    In general if the Licensing Authority have issued a Counter Notice following a Hearing in the circumstances outlined above, then you may appeal against the decision. Please note that this does not apply where personal/premises limits have been exceeded or where it has been issued following an application for a Late TEN.

    All appeals must be made to the local Magistrates' court within 21 days of notice of the Licensing Authority's decision. However no appeal may be brought later than five working days before the day on which the event begins.

    Please feel free to contact us for advice in the first instance. Alternatively you may wish to consider seeking independent legal advice.

    Consumer Complaint

    We would always advise that in the event of a complaint the first contact is made with the trader by you - preferably in the form a letter (with proof of delivery). If that has not worked Gov.uk can offer advice on Consumer Protection Rights (external link).

    Please direct all enquires concerning licensing matters to the Licensing Team who are part of the Rother and Wealden Environmental Health Service.

    If your complaint concerns non licensing matters you may still use the contact details below and your complaint will be passed to an Officer within a relevant team, for example, noise pollution, food hygiene or health and safety.

    Other Redress

    If the Licensing Authority decides not to issue a Counter Notice in relation to an Objection Notice the Chief Officer of Police or the Council's Pollution Control Team can appeal the decision.

    Appeals must be made to the local Magistrates' court within 21 days. An appeal may not be brought later than five working days from the day of the planned event.

    Trade Associations

    You may find the following organisations useful:

    Contact Rother and Wealden Environmental Health Service