Regulatory Services cover a range of services for North Yorkshire Council including licencing, food safety and environmental health. You may need to report issues to us or consult with our teams to obtain licenses for events

Licensing

The Council issues licences that authorise a range of activities that could impact on your Parish. These include:

• sale of alcohol and provision of entertainment
• gambling activities such as betting shops, race tracks and small lotteries etc
• taxis
• animal activities such as horse-riding lessons, dog and cat boarding and dog breeding etc
• scrap metal collection and storage
• selling things on the street
• licences to place tables and chairs on the highway for food and drink consumption

Further details can be found by clicking the button below.

You may also wish to enquire how these activities can enhance your community e.g. village events or local prize draws. The team are equally here to help you deliver your ambitions.

Contact the Licensing Team by phoning 0300 131 2 131 or clicking the button below.

Food Safety

In North Yorkshire, food standards and food safety controls are delivered by Environmental Health and Trading Standards Officers in parallel.

These controls involve a risk-based inspection programme alongside the investigation of consumer complaints and the provision of business advice.

The team work with all newly registered food business operators to provide an informed and safe foundation on which they can build, and we prioritise matters that we feel present a significant public health risk to consumers. That could be the environmental conditions at a particular premises, food poisoning, foreign bodies in food or the mislabelling of allergens on menus.

The team are proud to work with local businesses, positively impacting those that require our help, and when necessary, bringing matters back into compliance following an intervention.

For further information or advice please contact Farming, Food and Health on 0300 131 2 131 or email: RegSupport@northyorks.gov.uk

Animal Health Notifiable Disease Outbreaks

The Animal Health team are responsible for mitigating outbreaks of notifiable disease such as Foot and Mouth and Bird flu, and to do that effectively we need your help to raise awareness in our local communities.

In most cases, an outbreak of Foot and Mouth, Newcastle disease, Avian Influenza etc, will prompt the government to introduce a ‘control zone’ around the infected premises, bringing restrictions and obligations for animal / bird keepers and local residents alike.

It may be the mandatory housing of birds, increased biosecurity requirements on farms or restrictions on animal / bird movements. The details vary depending on the nature of the outbreak but the need to raise awareness of the issues in the local community remains regardless.

Most animal and bird keepers should be aware of notifiable disease symptoms through their vets, and a lot will have already registered their animals / birds with DEFRA meaning they will be informed of any local outbreaks direct. Nevertheless, when an outbreak is confirmed and the control zone implemented, we will be in touch to ask for help with sharing key information to local residents.

This usually takes the form of information posters which we put up on notice boards and lamp posts, but we will also be led by you as to what will work best in your area and we will be thankful for any assistance you may be able to give.

To report a notifiable disease please contact the Animal and Plant Health Agency on 03000 200 301. All other animal health related concerns or questions can be referred through to us via TSanimal.health@northyorks.gov.uk

Health and Safety

Farming, Food and Health share the enforcement of Health and Safety with the Health and Safety Executive.

Employers have a duty to report certain dangerous occurrences and accidents at work to either the Health and Safety Executive or the local authority via the RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013) process.

The break-down of who is responsible for each specific premises is complex given the vast array of business that exist, but some of the major categories that are the responsibility of the local authority are: retail, wholesale, office accommodation and leisure facilities, with the HSE enforcing at fairgrounds, construction plants and agricultural premises.

More details can be found by clicking the button below.

Alternatively, please contact the Farming, Food and Health team on 0300 131 2 131 or email: RegSupport@northyorks.gov.uk

Environmental Enforcement

The Environmental Enforcement Team focuses on tackling issues that negatively affect an area's appearance and cleanliness, by investigating environmental crime. Incidents can be reported by clicking the buttons below:

Enforcement is undertaken through both education and engagement and proportionate formal action. When informal advice is ignored or serious environmental offences occur, the team has powers to take formal enforcement action, which can include issuing Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) or prosecution through the courts.

The Council's General Enforcement Policy details the approach the Council will take to enforcement, so residents and businesses know what to expect. The Regulatory Services Penalty Notice Policy sets out how the Council will enforce the use of Penalty Notices for relevant offences and the penalty amounts for each notice.

For further information or advice please contact Environmental Enforcement on 0300 131 2 131 or email: RegSupport@northyorks.gov.uk.

Environmental Protection

The Environmental Protection Team deal with a broad range of functions including:

• statutory nuisance
• Public Health
• caravan site licencing
• private water supplies
• local air quality management
• contaminated land

For further information please see below.

For further information or advice please contact Environmental Protection on 0300 131 2 131 or email: RegSupport@northyorks.gov.uk.

Pest Control

North Yorkshire Council Environmental Health teams have legal powers to make sure that owners keep their land free from large numbers of rats and mice and to deal with infestations. We are however unable to investigate complaints about domestic buildings where the source of infestation is unknown.

If your home or business needs a professional pest control service our qualified technicians offer tailored and environmentally responsible solutions to protect and prevent pests from becoming a problem.

North Yorkshire Council provide a commercial pest control service in the old district areas of:

• Hambleton
• Harrogate
• Richmondshire
• Ryedale

Please visit our web pages for more information including pricing by clicking the button below or telephone 0300 131 2 131.

Trading Standards

Reporting to Trading Standards

The government funds the Citizens Advice Consumer Service to provide front line consumer advice and to act as the national reporting gateway to Trading Standards. Residents can contact the service on 0808 223 1133 or via their website by clicking the button below.

For more information about using the service to report to Trading Standards, click the button below.

Rogue traders presenting an immediate threat in the area, for example by refusing to leave or demanding payment for work not agreed to or manifestly excessive payment for work done, should be reported to the police via 999.

No Cold Calling Zones

In appropriate cases, Trading Standards can help the community to establish a ‘no cold calling zone’ aimed at reducing the number of cold callers and empowering other residents to challenge anyone they see cold calling in the area. Zones are resource intensive and do require significant support from residents so there is a triage process to determine which zones can be developed. This process uses the following criteria:

• recent doorstep crime incident(s)
• historic doorstep crime complaint(s)
• county Councillor support
• liaison person in the community
• % over 65 years
• size of zone (no. of properties)
• type of housing
• prevalence of cold calling
• reason for request

If you would like to discuss the possibility of a zone in your area, please contact consumer.advice@northyorks.gov.uk.