Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963
The keeping and running of Animal Boarding Establishments (catteries and kennels) as a business, is controlled by the Animal Boarding Establishment Act 1963. This requires such establishments to be licensed by the council.
Conditions are attached to the licence to ensure the safety and welfare of the animals being boarded.
Note: You will need to contact the council's planning department on 01724 297494 before you start building and you will also need to consider arrangements for the disposal of waste.
Online application and payment is available
Downloadable application form
Licence conditions
Licensing fees and charges see link below
Home boarding of dogs
A person who wishes to carry on the business of providing accommodation for other people's dogs within a private home, is also controlled by the Animal Boarding Establishment Act 1963.
This requires such premises to be licensed by the council.
Conditions are attached to the licence to ensure the safety and welfare of the dogs being boarded.
A licence shall only be issued following a satisfactory inspection by an authorised officer of the council.
Online application and payment is available
Home Boading application form
Downloadable application form
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Licensing conditions
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Additional information
Cats:
Note: In support of the council's Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS) and the Feline Advisory Bureau (FAB) it was considered that due to the free nature of cats they would not be recommended for home boarding and that this practice should be discouraged.
Animal welfare act 2006
The Animal Welfare Act 2006, places responsibilities for care and welfare of an animal, on persons who are in charge of or are responsible for the animal, whether on a permanent or temporary basis.
The Animal Welfare Act 2006
- Introduces a 'duty of care' on people to ensure the needs of any animal for which they are responsible
- Creates a new offence of failing to provide for the needs of an animal in your care
- Places more emphasis on owners and keepers who will need to understand their responsibilities and take all reasonable steps to provide for the needs of their animals.
Further details of the above licences can be obtained by contacting the Licensing Division on (01724) 297750/7752.
Further details of how the Act may affect you can be found on the Defra and RSPCA websites.
Note: The above documents are in Portable Document Format (PDF) and therefore require a suitable reader to view them. A reader can be downloaded free from the Adobe website (full instructions for downloading the reader are provided on the site).
More information