Consultation on keeping of dangerous wild animals

[SiUK]

so it says that it will run from April 2009 butI gather this isnt set in stone yet?

[Chris Newman]

I very much doubt it will be delayed, the loonies will try but I would be extremely surprised if DEFRA will procrastinate now. Enough is enough, this ruddy review has been ongoing since 2000, eight years, time its settled.

[SiUK]

sounds very promising then, thats great news

[Cyberlizard]

Well done Chris!

I'm PM'ing you.

[ian14]

Will this also standardise the costs? Not sure if I dreamt this one up, but I am sure I saw somewhere that the whole revamp of DWA, including species change which has now happened, would introduce a nationaly agreed standard charge for a DWA licence, along with standardised minimum security standards. Is this the case?

[Chris Newman]

Unfortunately, as stupid as it may seem, central government cannot set such costs, local government is able to set costs as they see fit. However, the good news is that thanks to the help from many people on this forum we were able to demonstrate that costs fluctuated wildly and that it appeared some LA’s took the ‘michael’ regards charges to deter keepers. In this review you will find guidance on costs. What this will do is give a rough guide to what LAs should charge. Currently we are looking at a rough cost of £200 per renewal (every two years). What this means is if a LA wants to charge more then this they will have to demonstrate why! Not perfect but much better than the situation we have now.

[SiUK]

see my worries was that standardising would put the costs up mine is fairly cheap anyway and I can see the standarising cost being higher that what im paying already.

[Chris Newman]

Costs vary tremendously, the cheapest is £25 and the most expensive I am aware of is £1,600. A lot average around £300, which is still too high. There is no reason why the licence should cost more than £100, in my view. Any Local Authority which charges more than £150 should be challenged to justify there charges. This can be done in the Magistrates Court or better by way of complain to the Local Authority Ombudsman.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by Chris Newman

Any Local Authority which charges more than £150 should be challenged to justify there charges. This can be done in the Magistrates Court or better by way of complain to the Local Authority Ombudsman.

If it is done this way though surely you'll just get there back up and make life harder for yourself when it comes time to add new species, or just in generally getting the license.

[Chris Newman]

That is always a possibility. However, once the guides is issued LAs will be expected to comply with it. As it is your right to keep such animals lawfully [licensed] LAs are obliged to respect your rights, should they infringe them you are perfectly entitled to complain to the Ombudsman. It costs you nothing to do so, but is very expensive and time consuming for LAs to deal with. If the Ombudsman upholds you complaint, which if you are complaint with the guidance they invariably will, it is extremely detrimental to the LA. Of course people are entitled not to do so and pay out significant sums of money for no reason – it’s a personal choose!