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Three licensing officers from North Ayrshire Council visited the island last week.
New legislation affecting all licensed premises will come into force next year and the three officers were here on a familiarisation visit.
Licensing standards officers Claire Simpson and Grace Cullen were accompanied by enforcement officer David Wallace and local police sergeant Bob MacKay.
Claire told the Banner: ‘We will be calling on all licensed premises to help them through the new legislation. It comes into effect on September 1 2009 but the transition period starts from February 1. We want to work hand in hand with licencees. Once people are used to it, the new system should be much simpler.’
Grace said: ‘Our role is threefold; information and guidance, mediation and finally, compliance. We report to the licensing board and could refer a licensee if they have not complied with a licensing notice.’
There are 58 licensed premises on Arran, excluding clubs, and the officers will be initially calling by appointment. David pointed out: ‘If we are checking on compliance with a notice, we will not announce our visit.’
Sgt MacKay said: ‘The new information pack is massive and not really user-friendly. You can give people packs but you can’t make them read them. The point of these visits is to help licencees and clarify a lot of things.’
