Licensing of Activities Involving Animals
The Animal Welfare (England) Regulations 2018
How to apply
If you are applying for a licence for the first time or require any further information contact:
Licensing, The Licensing Unit, Calderdale MBC:
- Address: Town Hall, Halifax. HX1 1UJ.
- Phone: (01422) 393001, 393002 or 393131.
- Email: licensing@calderdale.gov.uk.
- You must write to us, at least two months prior to placing an application to make us aware of your intention to make an application.
- A published notice must also be placed in a locally circulating newspaper and a national newspaper. A copy of this notice must also be placed at the site for easy viewing and with the local authority for public comment.
- Once this period of time has lapsed, an application form can be submitted along with the fee. Before a licence can be granted, you must pay the correct: Licence fees.
Will tacit authorisation apply?
No.
What happens next
- On receipt of an application (whether it is a new application or a renewal), an Officer from the Local Authority will contact you within 10 working days.
- The local authority may request representations from the police authority, fire service authority, public objections and/or a national institution concerned with the operation of zoos in the UK. (For example, if an aquatic zoo then we may ask an aquatic zoo specialist). Other people whose representations might be relevant can also be consulted.
- An inspection is carried out by a Secretary of State appointed inspector who will produce a report of his findings. Based on the report and other considerations the Local Authority will grant or reject a licence application or renewal. The operator will receive a written statement of the grounds for refusal.
- An annual stock list must be provided along with any updated escape precaution procedures.
Inspections
Periodic inspections, with Secretary of State appointed inspectors, occur as a minimum at renewal stage. (For example, within the six months leading to the expiry date). Also, in the first year of the original licence and in the third year of the six-year period.
The local authority can request a special inspection by an appointed competent person where concerns have arisen.
In any calendar year where no other inspection has taken place, an informal inspection is carried out by an appointed person from the local authority.
More information
Zoos are regulated by local authorities under the: Zoo Licensing Act 1981.
We work in close partnership with the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on all aspects of zoo licensing.
Licensing of zoos
Before granting or refusing to grant a licence for a zoo, the authority shall:
- consider inspectors' reports made in pursuance of inspections of the zoo under this Act, or
- if no inspection of the zoo has been made under this Act, consult such persons on the list as the Secretary of State nominates for the purposes of this section.
The local authority will refuse to grant a licence for a zoo if they are satisfied that the establishment or continuance of the zoo would injuriously affect the health or safety of persons living in the neighbourhood of the zoo, or seriously affect the preservation of law and order.
The local authority may refuse to grant a licence for a zoo if they are not satisfied that the standards of accommodation, staffing or management are adequate for the proper care and wellbeing of the animals or any of them or otherwise for the proper conduct of the zoo.
They may also refuse to grant a licence if:
- the applicant, or
- (where the applicant is a body corporate) the body or any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body, or
- any person employed as a keeper in the zoo, has been convicted of an offence under this Act or under any of the enactments mentioned in subsection (5) or of any other offence involving the ill-treatment of animals.
he enactments are -
- The Animal Welfare Act 2006;
- The Animal Welfare Act (Scotland) 2006;
- The Pet Animals Act 1951;
- The Protection of Birds Acts 1954 to 1967;
- The Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963;
- The Riding Establishments Act 1964 and 1970;
- The Breeding of Dogs Act 1973;
- The Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act 1975;
- The Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976;
- The Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act 1976.
Each original licence will run for four years, consecutive renewals will run for six years. Failure or late application for renewal may invalidate any public liability insurance for the premises.
Changes to the licence i.e. name changes, ownership changes can be undertaken at the request of the operator, however a charge may be required. A licence can be transferred to another person with the approval of the local authority. On the death of the holder of a licence, the personal representatives of the deceased are deemed to be the holders during a three month period following the death, or longer with our approval.
For small zoos or for a zoo exhibiting only a small number of different kinds of animals the Secretary of State has powers to relax the requirements of the Act. The local authority can seek a direction that the Act shall not apply at all (Section 14(1)(a)) or that certain category of inspection is not required (Section 14(1)(b)).
Alternatively, the zoo operator, on applying to the Secretary of State for a zoo licence, may be granted a dispensation (Section 14(2)) to reduce the number of inspectors to a reasonable level for a small establishment. This doesn't reduce the zoo's obligation to achieve the levels of animal welfare and public safety set out in the Secretary of State's Standards.
Where a licence is granted, that licence and any subsequent licence will expire on the 31st December of the year to which it relates and must be renewed before that date if the premises are to continue as an animal boarding establishment.
Conditions
The Zoo Licensing Act 1981 specifies conservation measures that must be undertaken by the zoo.
The licence will contain appropriate conditions with regard to these measures and the Secretary of State issues model conditions for zoo licences.
The local authority also has discretion to attach any condition(s) deemed necessary or desirable for the proper conduct of the zoo.
The Secretary of State issues guidance of standards of practice that zoos should meet which apply in England.
The Secretary of State's Standards of Modern Zoo Practice can be downloaded from DEFRA.
Offences and penalties
It is:
- unlawful to operate a zoo without a licence
- an offence not to comply, without reasonable excuse the conditions attached to the licence
- an offence to intentionally obstruct an inspector.
Maximum penalties, on summary conviction, may lead to a fine not exceeding £500 for obstruction, and £200 for unlawful operation or non-compliance with conditions.