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Licensing – Commercial and other

Commercial licensing including information about skin piercing, scrap metal, cooling towers and the pre application service.

About us

The Licensing Department covers numerous licensable activities – some more complex than others. Find out how to register and apply for licences below:

Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982

Skin piercing is a general term that covers:

  • Acupuncture
  • Cosmetic piercing
  • Semi-permanent skin colouring
  • Electrolysis
  • Tattooing

A person needs to apply to operate a business of skin piercing at the address of the premises where the business is being run. If the business conducts more than one activity, a separate application form and fee is required for each.

At the point of registration other individuals who conduct the activity at the premises can be listed on the application form. No further fee is required unless a further name is to be included after initial registration.

Mobile skin piercers must also be registered to their home address.

An environmental officer will carry out an inspection before registration. This ensures that techniques are carried out in a hygienic and safe manner.

A common complaint is the piercing of young people. These complaints should be referred to the police.

For further information read – Skin Best Practice Guide

New registration and additional names can be applied for here.

Downloadable application form:

Fees and Charges

You can find the fee for this registration by going to our fee register.

We aim to deal with grant and renewal registrations within 77 days. Tacit consent applies. This means that you will be able to act as though your registration is granted/renewed if you have not heard from us by the end of the above application period.

 

Anyone trading in scrap metal is required to obtain a licence in order to carry on business as a Scrap Metal Dealer.

The Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 brings together the prior scrap metal and motor salvage schemes and reduces duplication. There are two types of licence;

  • Site Licence – authorises the licence holder to carry on business at any site within the authority’s area which is identified in the licence. This includes transporting scrap metal to and from those sites from any local authority area. The Act defines a site as ‘any premises used in the course of carrying on business as a scrap metal dealer (whether or not metal is kept there)’.
  • Collector’s Licence – authorises the licence holder to carry on business as a mobile collector in the authority’s area. A collector’s licence must be in the name of an individual. The Act defines a collector as ‘a person who (a) carries on business as a scrap metal dealer otherwise than at a site, and (b) regularly engages, in the course of that business, in collecting waste materials and old, broken, worn out or defaced articles by means of visits from door to door’.

Downloadable Application form:

All documents supporting this application must be supplied within three working days, otherwise the application may be deemed incomplete and be rejected. The application process will not start until all information has been received.

As part of the application process, applicants will be required to produce a basic disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service. The certificate must be no older than three months on the date of application. In the case of a company being the applicant, then a basic disclosure will be required from each Director, Shadow Director, Company Secretary and Partner involved in the company, along with a disclosure from each person identified as a Site Manager.

It is an offence for scrap metal dealers and motor salvage operators to carry on business if they don’t have a licence and is punishable on summary conviction with a fine not exceeding level 5 (£5,000).

Along with the fee and basic disclosure, where the application is for a Collector’s Licence, we will also require a passport type photograph.  Please refer to our fees and charges.

From 4 April 2022, applicants will also be required to either complete a tax check with HMRC or confirm their understanding of their tax obligations.

If you are:

  • renewing a licence
  • applying for the same type of licence you previously held, that ceased to be valid less than a year ago
  • applying for the same type of licence you already hold with another licensing authority.

Then you must complete a tax check with HMRC and provide the tax check code with your application. Otherwise, if you are applying for the first time, or you have only held a licence that have not been valid for over a year, you will be required to confirm your awareness of your tax responsibilities.

Further guidance on scrap metal licences is also available from the Home Office website.

In accordance with Schedule 1 of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, North Lincolnshire Council may, on application, vary an existing licence by:

  1. changing it from one type to another;
  2. varying the licensee (but not transferring the licence from one person to another);
  3. or in the case of a site licence, changing the site(s) or the site manager

You can apply to vary your existing Scrap Metal Licence using the following form.  A 28-day consultation period applies and the fee is £58. Please forward your completed form, along with payment, to the address in the Contact section.

Further guidance on scrap metal licences is also available from the Home Office website.

Business premises with either large cooling towers or evaporative condensers (usually part of an air conditioning plant) must have the structures registered with the council.

You can view the Cooling Tower register on our Licensing Registers page.

Downloadable application form

 

The Licensing Department covers numerous licensable activities, some more complex than others.

A pre-application advice service has been set up for applications under the following areas:

The pre-application advice scheme provides the following advice and guidance relating to the completing of the application forms and other statutory requirements:

  • Advice on appropriate conditions; which will be taken from a pool of standard conditions, where appropriate or how to comply with conditions where they are in force;
  • Advice on drawing up plans to accompany the application in accordance with any relevant regulations;
  • Assistance with advertising and notice;
  • A site visit to ensure that plans are correct and compliant and that the premises conforms to any conditions or regulations as appropriate and to ensure that any statutory notices are displayed; and
  • Assistance with other matters, such as the appointment of a designated premises supervisor.

Other advice and assistance may be provided if necessary.

The council charge for the service and a list of the fees can be found on our Fees and Charges page.

To request pre-application advice, please complete the Pre application advice form [PDF, 147Kb] and email it to us.

 

Contact

licensing@northlincs.gov.uk

Licensing Department
PO Box 42
Church Square House
Scunthorpe
DN15 6XQ