LICENSING law changes being pushed through by the Government look set to cost City of York Council nearly £50,000 a year.

A Licensing Bill currently working its way through Parliament is expected to reform controls on the sale of alcohol and provision of entertainment.

It is thought licences will be issued by the local authority, rather than by magistrates as happens now.

It is estimated that, in the first year of the new Act taking force, City of York Council will have to deal with 2,640 licence applications - a huge jump from the 204 dealt with now.

Richard Haswell, the council's regulation unit manager, said: "At the moment, local authorities are only responsible for licensing public entertainment.

"Under this Act, we would take over responsibility for licensing retail of alcohol and other things from magistrates, plus there is a change which means individual people and premises need to be licensed separately. That would lead to a large rise in the amount of licences we deal with."

The increase means income for the council through licensing fees is estimated to go up from £100,000 to £180,000 in the first year.

But, as most premises would apply immediately, that would drop after the first year. Mr Haswell estimates it would fall to £57,000.

He said: "Members will note the significant workload increase and reduction in fee income.

"It is intended that a more detailed analysis of costs will be produced when more information is available."

The changes will be discussed by the council's licensing and regulatory committee when it meets on Monday.

Updated: 09:23 Friday, January 03, 2003