Health & Safety Executive/Local Authorities Enforcement Liaison Committee (HELA)

To: All Unitary and Island Councils; County Councils in England; and Fire Authorities

For the attention of: Environmental Services /Trading Standards /Fire Authorities/ Local Authority Health and Safety Enforcement Managers, Health and Safety Regulators and others

This circular gives advice to Petroleum Enforcement Officers

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Petroleum (Consolidation) Act 1928 – Petrol filling stations – Licence renewal periods – Model application forms

Introduction

1. Section 2(2) of the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act 1928 makes provision for a local (licensing) authority (PLA) to determine to period of time that a petroleum licence can remain in force.  Prior to the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) programme to modernise petrol legislation, many PLAs issued licences for periods in excess of 1 year with 3 years being the norm.

2. With the possibility of Phase 2 of the modernisation programme resulting in an abolition of the licensing regime, PLAs were advised to grant/renew licences for a 12 month period to avoid a situation arising whereby licensees could seek a reimbursement for any unused portion of their licences⁽¹⁾.

Abandonment of the modernisation project

3. When, in November 2004, the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) took a decision to abandon Phases 2 and 3 of the modernisation project, the Petroleum Working Group (PWG) recognised that the continuance of the licensing regime placed an administrative burden on both PLAs and site operators alike.  As the PWG was to be abandoned, the matter was referred to the Petroleum Enforcement Liaison Group (PELG) to take forward.

Discussion with industry

4. At the PELG meeting on 26 January 2006, the matter was discussed with the trade representatives of the petrol retail industry⁽²⁾.  The industry representatives expressed a preference for extended licensing periods for the sole purpose of reducing the on-going administrative burden.  The representatives of the sectors of the industry with multiple outlets (the supermarkets and major oil companies) also raised their concerns for work involved in processing and signing individual renewal forms.  In this respect they requested that standardised application, transfer and renewal forms should be introduced with the latter designed to simplify the renewal process.

Advice to PLAs

5. For the purpose of reducing the administrative burden (for licensees and PLAs alike), the advice of PELG is for licensees to given the option of: -

• applying for a new licence to run for a period of 1, 2 or 3 years; and
• applying to renewing their licences for a period of 1, 2 or 3 years.

The fee for a 2 or 3 year renewal period should be charged pro-rata of the annual fee set by the current Heath & Safety (Fees) Regulations.

6. Any small losses accrued by the PLAs where licences are granted or renewed for 2 or 3 year periods would be more than off-set by the significant reduction of 50% or 66% respectively in administration work.

7. Further reductions in the administrative process can also be achieved by: -

• issuing invoices as an alternative to renewal forms;
• where a licensee has more that one site in a PLA’s area, ensuring that all the licences expire on the same date; and
• making provision for site operators to pay the fee by (electronic) cash transfer.

Model forms

8. Model application forms for the grant, transfer and renewal of petroleum licences are attached to this circular as appendices 1 to 3 respectively.

9. The adoption of these forms by all PLAs will be a significant step towards achieving a national and consistent approach to the administration of the licensing regime for petrol filling stations.

• Appendix 1 - Model application form [56kb] .
• Appendix 2 - Model transfer of licence form [23kb] .
• Appendix 3 - Model renewal of licence form [18kb] .

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Notes:

1. PETEL 65/47 (paragraph 5) refers.
2. AUKOI, PRA and UKPIA