Animal welfare

 

Animal activities licensing

Revised laws governing how animal welfare activities licensed came into force on 1 October 2018. The laws affect all premises and persons that provide any of the following services:

  • Selling animals as pets (or with a view to their being later resold as pets)
  • Providing or arranging for the provision of boarding for cats
  • Providing or arranging for the provision of boarding for dogs - including home boarding, day care as well as commercial kennels
  • Hiring out horses
  • Dog breeding
  • Keeping or training animals for exhibition

 

Our Officers regularly inspect all premises that need to comply with an animal welfare licence, which may also include a veterinary practitioner where necessary. Specific guidance has been published to help licence holders and applicants to comply with the requirements. More information can be also obtained below or from the Council's Licensing Service.

In order to receive a licence a business will need to meet all of the minimum standards set out in the guidance. All business are given a star rating under the Animals Activity Star Rating System, which is based on the nature of the business and the level of compliance. Accordingly, businesses are encouraged to apply higher standards, which will mean that they are able to gain a 4 or 5 star rating and will qualify for a longer licence (e.g. two or three years as opposed to a one-year licence) and thereby pay a lower licence fee.

It should be noted that dangerous wild animal and zoo licences are not affected by this revised legislation.

We also investigate complaints from members of the public regarding these activities. 

A copy of our licensed animal activity register is available at this link. This document will be periodically updated.

Data protection is important to us. Information on how we handle and protect your data including our Corporate Privacy Policy can be found here.

Licences

Other information