You must provide an adequate plan of the area that you wish to apply for a pavement licence in as part of your application. The plan provided must meet certain minimum standards:

1. you must clearly define the proposed licensed area
2. you must clearly define the surrounding highway area
3. you must include measurements of the highway and the boundary of the proposed area
4. you must include the location of any street furniture
5. you must include a reasonable amount of ‘smoke free’ space within the licensed area

It is important that businesses can cater to their customers’ preferences. The Business and Planning Act 2020 imposes a smoke-free seating condition in relation to licences where seating will be used for the purpose of consuming food or drink. The condition requires a licence-holder to make reasonable provision for seating where smoking is not permitted. Licence holders should provide a minimum 2M distance between non-smoking and smoking areas, wherever possible. Your plan should clearly identify which area will be designated as ‘non-smoking’.

Your plan must show the view of the area ‘from above’. It must clearly show the pavement or highway area that you are proposing to use. It must include details like lampposts or benches that are permanent fixtures in the area (known as street furniture). The proposed Licensed Area must be outlined in RED.

Acceptable plan

The above plan clearly indicates the premises that the Pavement Licence will be for (outlined in blue), the area that they wish to use for their trading (outlined in red) and the wider area around the premises including identifying street furniture in the locality. The plan also includes measurements of the different spaces and the proposed positioning of the furniture and clearly demonstrates that the highway will be free of obstructions.

Unacceptable plan and layout examples

This does not give us enough detail to deal with your application. No dimensions are provided and it does not show the furniture in relation to seating area or the surrounding pavement.

This does not show the location of furniture in relation to the pavement and does not have any dimensions. Plans must be shown from above.