Licences & Street Trading Information
Bedford Borough Council is the Unitary Council
for the Borough of Bedford. Unitary Councils are also
multi-purpose licensing authorities for the area they cover.
The central licensing service of Bedford Borough Council is
provided by the Registration & Records Unit within the
Governance Group of the Chief Executive’s Directorate. The
key objective of the Unit 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 the function to progressively reduce the cost of
licensing to the Council.
The Unit is responsible for delivery of the
licensing functions to the General Licensing Committee and the
(Licensing Act 2003) Licensing Committee. These Committees
are comprised of elected Councillors and they determine licensing
policies. Certain policies will also 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 extensive
delegation to the Head of Service who may grant or refuse
individual applications or suspend or refuse individual licences,
consents or registrations. Officers of the Council fully
process the majority of applications and investigate fully issues
concerning licensable activity. Individual cases may be
referred to a small group of elected Councillors in order for them
to determine the appropriate action. These Councillors will
then meet as a Sub-Committee of one or other of the Licensing
Committees.
Before any Councillor can be a Member of a
Licensing Sub-Committee they must have undertaken 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.
Using the links in the list on the left hand
side of this page you can access details for the above licensing
areas. You can also access details of Licensing's Promise, on-line
payment options, consultations and details of prosecutions and
enforcement for licensing using those links.
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
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)