Issue - meetings

The purpose of this policy is to highlight the requirements of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 by providing guidance to new applicants, existing licence holders, consultees and members of the public on how the Act is administered and enforced.

Currently within the BCP Council area there are three sets of fees for the issuing of licences under this legislation and it is proposed to introduce a single set of fees.

The Licensing Manager presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The proposed Scrap Metal Dealer Policy, at Appendix 1 of the report, set out how applications for licences under the Scrap Metal Dealer Act 2013 would be dealt with by BCP Council. The policy provided guidance to new applicants, existing licence holders, consultees and members of the public on how the Act was administered and enforced. It was noted that there was no requirement under the Act for the Council to have a formal policy for dealing with applications. The Council had decided to adopt a formal policy in accordance with best practice.

In addition to the policy, a single set of fees which covered the costs to the Council was proposed at the updated Appendix 2, published as a supplement to the report.

In response to questions from the Committee the Licensing Manager explained that the application form was quite lengthy due to the statutory nature of the information which was required to be included. It was confirmed that the definition of scrap metal did not include gold or silver or any alloy containing 2% or more by weight attributable to gold or silver.

RECOMMENDED that the Council approves the final version of the new BCP Council Scrap Metal Dealer Policy, as agreed, without amendment by the Committee.

RESOLVED that the proposed BCP Council Scrap Metal Dealers Fees be agreed.

Voting: Unanimous