Operators could face a postcode lottery over the size of their licence fees from 2012.
Councils would get powers to set fees themselves, and vary them from time to time and between different types of venue, under proposed new amendments to the Licensing Act - which could also see more enforcement of pubs and clubs.
The Home Office, which has proposed the amendments via the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill, says there will be a cap on fee levels.
But it raises the worrying prospect of some councils ramping up their charges to plug holes in their finances.
Jeremy Allen, partner at law firm Poppleston Allen, said: “The first thing I’ve got concerns about is the ability of the licensing authority to determine fees that could lead to varied fees across the country.
“There may be huge differences between different local authorities - Westminster may be much larger than a rural council, for example.”
Under the amendment, authorities could set different amounts for the different fee bands, which are based on rateable value. They may also “from time to time determine a revised amount” for the fees level, although there are no details as to how often this would happen.
Licensing authorities would determine the fee level based on administration costs, plus “general costs”, such as monitoring and enforcement. “Again, that cost could be quite a considerable, and would depend to a large extent about how much enforcement they did,” Allen added.
He warned: “It could encourage enforcement if they can recover their costs to do it.”
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The Government has committed to rebalancing the Licensing Act in favour of local communities which includes giving local authorities a greater say over alcohol licensing in their area.
“We have tabled an amendment to the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill that will enable the Secretary of State to introduce locally-set licensing fees, based on full cost recovery. Licensing fees are intended to cover the costs of licensing authorities carrying out their duties under the Act, but they have not increased since the Act was introduced in 2005.
“Under our proposal, Licensing Authorities will be able to set the level of the fee within a nationally-set cap. The level of the cap will be set out in regulations which will be consulted on before being introduced.”
The Government aims to introduce the new fees structure some time in 2012, depending on the Parliamentary timetable.
