Issue - meetings
CHANGES TO ANIMAL LICENSING LEGISLATION
Meeting: 20/09/2018 - Licensing Committee (Item 29)
29 Changes to Animal Licensing Legislation PDF 186 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Mr Martyn Jeynes, the Community Protection Manager, introduced his report which provided guidance from DEFRA on the new Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 which would come into effect on the 1st October 2018.
The Committee noted that the new legislation provided an updated licensing framework in England for five activities involving animals which were as follows:-
· Selling animals as pets
· Providing for or arranging for the provision of boarding for cats and dogs
· Hiring out horses
· Dog breeding
· Keeping or training animals for exhibition
Mr Jeynes highlighted areas that were now captured by the legislation such as online trading of pets.
In response to questions from Members, Mr Jeynes advised that:-
·
The fees were calculated according to the guidance
and took into account all the activities involved in the particular
processes such as travel, time spent at the establishment and the
processing of the licence application.
·
The new regulations were made on 16th
April 2018 and due to come into effect on 1st October
2018. The relatively late publication of the guidance, particularly
around fee setting meant that it had not been possible to brief
Members before the Committee meeting.
·
The legislation gave more powers to Local
Authorities, including giving Officers authority to enter
a premises with a warrant on suspicion
of trading rather than having to gather evidence of an offence
first.
·
If selling pets online the person was required to
show a licence number on their advertisement.
·
A dog training establishment did not fall under the
new regime but the person who exhibited the dog would have to be
licensed.
·
The guidance stated that there should only be 1
litter per bitch each year. The
restriction of 3 litters per year related to 3 breeding bitches in
one household. An Officer can
investigate if there was a suspicion that it was more.
·
The current licences were due to expire in December
2018 so existing
establishments had been contacted and advised about the new
regime. The legislation provided for
the transition of existing licences which needed to be issued under
the new regime once
expired. With most licences due
to expire in December 2018 there was likely to be heavy demand on
the service between October and December.
·
It would be possible to review the fees in 12
months’ time as there would have been sufficient time to
check if the fees had been calculated in the correct
manner.
·
Officers could follow up on concerns from residents
who suspected an activity was being operated without a
licence.
·
The guidance stated that a cost for enforcement
against unlicensed activities should be included, which would be
paid from licensed activities fees, as enforcing against unlicensed
activities protected their business.
·
Establishments who were awarded a 5 Star rating
would pay upfront cost in the first year, but the Council would
still need to recover its costs overall.
· Dog Day Care and Home Dog Boarding were new additions to the regulations and therefore an ... view the full minutes text for item 29