The Strategic Licensing Committee of Shropshire Council met on 8 October 2025 to discuss licensing fees and charges for 2026-2027, and to review the exercise of delegated powers. The meeting was scheduled to cover a range of topics, including statutory fees for various licenses, discretionary fees for activities like gambling and animal-related services, and the implementation of a Relevant Protected Site fees policy. The committee was also expected to review licenses issued and variations made between June and August 2025.

Licensing Fees and Charges 2026-2027

The committee was scheduled to discuss proposed revisions to licensing fees for the financial year beginning 1 April 2026. The report pack included details of fees for:

• Hackney carriage and private hire vehicles and drivers
• Private hire operators
• Public health (acupuncture, tattooing, semi-permanent skin colouring, cosmetic piercing, electrolysis)
• Animals (hiring out horses, providing day care for dogs, boarding for cats, home boarding, kennel boarding, breeding for dogs, selling animals as pets, keeping or training animals for exhibition, dangerous wild animals, zoos and primates)
• Scrap metal
• Sex establishments
• Street trading
• Explosives and fireworks
• Distribution of free printed matter
• Relevant protected sites
• Pleasure boats and vessels

The report pack noted that the fees applicable to hackney carriage, private hire vehicle and operator licences may become effective before 1 April 2026, because the council has to follow a process to vary these fees, as prescribed by Section 70 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976.

The report pack also stated that revised fees under the Gambling Act 2005 were to be discussed, in relation to gambling activities where the council can determine fees up to legally set statutory maximums.

The report pack contained several recommendations. These included that the committee:

• Note the statutory fees that Shropshire Council is required to charge in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003, the Gambling Act 2005 and explosives and fireworks legislation, and recommends that the authority implements these fees on the 1 April 2026.
• Implement the proposed fees as set out in appendices D, E, F, G, H and I, that relate to those licences and licensing related activities where the authority has the discretion to determine the fees.
• Propose to vary the fees relevant to driver, hackney carriage, private hire vehicle and operator licences as set out in Appendix F, and instructs the Transactional Management and Licensing Team Manager, in accordance with the provisions of Section 70 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 to undertake the necessary work to consult and implement the fees.
• Agree the Relevant Protected Site fees policy as set out at Appendix J.

The report pack stated that the council tries to recover regulatory and enforcement costs from those who are licensed. It noted that licensing fees and charges may be challenged through service complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman and judicial review, so robust processes to set discretionary fees and charges are important.

The report pack stated that the total cost to the council of delivering the licensing service in 2024/25 was calculated to be £751,529 and the income received was £748,774, resulting in an overall deficit of £2,755.

The report pack stated that the fees under the Licensing Act 2003 are statutory fees that the council cannot change, and that a fee surplus of £145,175 was generated. It noted that the process of offsetting the overall licensing deficit using Licensing Act fees is permissible, but only because the Licensing Act fees are statutory.

The report pack stated that on 1 October 2018, the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 came into effect. These regulations provide for the licensing of providing day care for dogs, breeding for dogs, boarding for cats, kennel boarding, home boarding, selling animals as pets, keeping or training animals for exhibition and hiring out horses.

The report pack stated that the Animal Welfare (Primate Licences) (England) Regulations 2024 came into force on 6 April 2025, and require anyone who keeps a primate to be licenced to do so from 6 April 2026.

The report pack stated that the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 as amended by the Mobile Homes Act 2013 allows for the council to fix fees for a new application for a Relevant Protected Site¹, fix a fee for the alteration of the site licence, fix a fee for the transfer of a site licence, fix annual fees and prepare and publish a fees policy.

Exercise of Delegated Powers

The committee was scheduled to receive a report giving details of the licences issued and the variations that have been made between 1 June 2025 and 31 August 2025.

The report pack stated that licensing officers have been given delegated powers to issue or amend licences, providing no objections have been received in the case of licences issued under the Licensing Act or regarding general and public health licences. It also stated that procedures have been approved for officers with direct line management responsibility for Licensing to use their delegated powers to refuse, suspend or revoke driver, vehicle, and operator licences.

The report pack stated that during the period of 1 June 2025 to the 31 August 2025, the total number of licences processed was 1484. It also stated that no Licensing and Safety Sub-Committee hearings were held between those dates, but that two Licensing Act Sub Committee hearings were held.

The report pack stated that following a decision at the Strategic Licensing Committee on 18 March 2015, vehicles and driver applications are now being considered by Officers using delegated powers. This includes refusal of new licence applications, refusal to renew existing licences and revocation and suspension of existing licences, in relation to any matter concerning a hackney carriage or a private hire driver's licence or a vehicle licence or any matter concerning a private hire operator's licence.