The Council has a statutory duty to licence boarding establishments for cats and dogs; dog breeding establishments; pet shops; riding establishments; owners of dangerous wild animals, zoos, dog day care and exhibition of animals.
Please see the Related Content links on this page for further information.
The Council’s Licensing Officer will give advice on licensed premises and carry out enforcement, inspections for new premises and licence renewal applications.
Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018
The Government has recently published the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 under section 13 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The effect of the new regulations is to replace some existing licensing regimes and to put in place a new licensing regime to control the following “licensable activities”:
- Selling animals as pets
- Providing or arranging for the provision of boarding for cats or dogs
- Hiring out horses
- Breeding dogs
- Keeping or training animals for exhibition
The regulations came into effect on 1st October 2018 and will introduce a new licensing regime to replace the licensing and registration regimes currently in place under the following legislation:
- Pet Animals Act 1951
- Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963
- Riding Establishments Acts 1964 & 1970
- Breeding of Dogs Act 1973 & Breeding and Sale of Dogs (Welfare) Act 1999
- Performing Animals (Regulation) Act 1925
If you have a licence under one of the above pieces of legislation that is in force on 1st October 2018, it will continue to be valid until it is due to expire. You will then need to apply for a licence under the new regulations.
Guidance from DEFRA
The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has now published procedural guidance for local authorities in relation to the new regulations, along with guidance notes on the conditions that will apply to licences issued to authorise the different licensable activities. The procedural guidance and other guidance notes can be downloaded in the Related Content section
Animal welfare during transport
The welfare of animals during transport is protected by legislation.
The legislation states:
“No person shall transport animals or cause animals to be transported in a way that is likely to cause injury or undue suffering to them” (Source: Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport and related operations and amending directives).
Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport and related operations applies to all those involved with the transport of live vertebrate animals in connection with an economic activity i.e. a business or trade.
Animal transport certificates
These are required for journeys of any species of animals over any distance or duration EXCEPT journeys involving farm livestock and unregistered horses on export journeys over 8 hours which require a Journey Log instead.
The Animal Transport Certificate is required to inform the following: origin and ownership of animals; place of departure and destination; date and time of departure and expected duration of journey. Farmers transporting their own animals in their own means of transport on journeys of up to 50km from their holding are exempt from this requirement.
We refer to the provision of this information as an Animal Transport Certificate (ATC). This is not a new requirement and as previously there is no prescribed format for the information required to be presented. Any other document containing the required information - such as an Animal Movement Licence - may be used, if preferred.
Further information regarding an animal transport certificate