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Licences & Street Trading Information

Bedford Borough Council is the Unitary Council for the Borough of Bedford.  UnitaryCouncils are also multi-purpose licensing authorities for the area they cover.  The centrallicensing service of Bedford Borough Council is provided by the Registration & Records Unitwithin the Governance Group of the Chief Executive’s Directorate.  The key objective of theUnit in this regard is to utilise the Council’s licensing powers to maximise public protection,to protect the consumer and (where appropriate) the welfare of animals and to manage thefunction to progressively reduce the cost of licensing to the Council.

The Unit is responsible for delivery of the licensing functions to the General LicensingCommittee and the (Licensing Act 2003) Licensing Committee.  These Committees arecomprised of elected Councillors and they determine licensing policies.  Certain policies willalso require the consent of the Executive and of the Full Council.

In order to facilitate delivery of an effective and efficient licensing service there is extensivedelegation to the Head of Service who may grant or refuse individual applications orsuspend or refuse individual licences, consents or registrations.  Officers of the Council fullyprocess the majority of applications and investigate fully issues concerning licensableactivity.  Individual cases may be referred to a small group of elected Councillors in order forthem to determine the appropriate action.  These Councillors will then meet as aSub-Committee of one or other of the Licensing Committees.

Before any Councillor can be a Member of a Licensing Sub-Committee they must haveundertaken at least 7.5 hours of training on the Authority’s licensing functions.

The licensing areas that the Unit is responsible for are:

  • Alcohol, Entertainment and Late Night Refreshments. This includes Personal and Premises Licences/Certificates and Temporary Events.
  • Bookmaker, Bingo and Gaming Machine Premises and Small lotteries.
  • Public Charitable House to House and Street Collections.
  • Animal Boarding, Dangerous Wild Animals, Dog Breeding, Pet Shops, Riding Establishments and Zoos
  • Taxis and Private Hire Operators, Vehicles and Drivers
  • Scrap Metal Dealers and Motor Salvage Operators
  • Sex Establishments
  • Street Trading and Street Cafés/Highways Tables and Chairs.

 

If you would like to receive an application form by post, please use the link below which will generate a request with your requirements.

Request Form

 

Using the link below you can read the Council’s Enforcement Policy in relation to licensing.

Enforcement Policy

 

If you would like to contact the Council in relation to its licensing responsibilities, you can do so in the following ways:

Write to:  

Licensing Service, Registration & Records, Town Hall, St Pauls Square, Bedford. MK40 1SJ        

Email:              licensing@bedford.gov.uk

Telephone:     01234 221742

Fax:                  01234 227446

 

Certain residual licensing areas are still managed by individual services and these are:

  • Cosmetic Treatment Licence (Environmental Health/Trading Standards)
  • Sunday Trading (Environmental Health/Trading Standards)

 

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