Scrap metal site licence

Guidance notes

These guidance notes will help you when you apply for a scrap metal site licence.

How we use your information

The council has to share some of these details with the police, Environment Agency, or Natural Resources Wales when checking whether the applicant is a suitable person to hold a licence. Some of the information will also be displayed on a public register.

If you do not agree to this use of your information then you should not complete the application form. If you are in any doubt about what this section means then speak to your council’s licensing team.

Type of licence

All applicants must tell us which licence they are applying for, how you are applying (as an individual, company or a partnership) and whether you are making a new application or renewing an existing application.

Collector's licence

Please note that a collector’s licence issued by us allows you to travel within our borough (Hinckley and Bosworth) to collect scrap metal. You may not take this metal back to a site that you run within the council area in order to sell it.

Site licence

A site licence permits you to buy and sell scrap metal from a fixed location within our borough, the borough of Hinckley and Bosworth.

Permits, registrations and licences in force

In this section, we ask you to confirm if you hold other environmental permits or licences or if you hold any exemptions. Please make sure you include your existing permit or licence number so that we can check this against the national register.

Please note in order to carry on your business you may need to hold other environmental permits or licences. For example, if you carry waste as part of your business it is a legal requirement to register as a waste carrier. This includes transporting waste while travelling from job to job, to a storage place for disposal later, or to a waste disposal company or waste site.

To register or for more information on waste carriers (environment-agency.gov.uk) or telephone: 03708 506506.

Site licence

In this section, we are asking for details of the person who will hold the site licence (scrap metal dealer's licence).

Site details

In this section we are asking for the address of the site or sites you want the licence for, as well as the details of each site manager responsible for that site. These details are required by law and will enable us to contact then if there are any problems.

A site manager is the person who will be in charge of the site on a daily basis. You will probably need a different site manager for each site should you have more than one.

A director or partner is someone who has or shares legal responsibility for the operation of the company, including filing returns at Companies House.

You and every person listed on the application form needs to provide a basic disclosure certificate (criminal conviction certificate or a criminal record certificate) or the results of a subject access search of the Police National Computer by the National Intelligence Service. This can be uploaded within the online application or you can provide this to us by post.

Please note your application may be delayed or rejected if this is not provided. Such certificates or search results shall be issued no earlier than one calendar month before the submitting the application to our licensing team.

Convictions

The Home Office has decided that you need to tell the council if you have been convicted of certain crimes. Possessing a conviction may not automatically prevent you from having a licence if the offence was unrelated to being a scrap metal dealer or a long time ago, and you can convince the council that you are a suitable person.

A basic disclosure certificate is considered to be valid for a limited time, but you can use this to apply to as many local authorities as you want within that time. Typically, one month is the longest that you can expect your check to be considered valid.

Apply for a basic disclosure check (GOV.UK) or call 03000 200 190 for more information.

You can also request information from the criminal records office by submitting a subject access request (acro.police.uk), telephone 0845 6013999 or email customer.services@acro.pnn.police.uk

Partnership

This section is applicable if you are applying as a partnership. In this section we ask for the name, address, date of birth and basic disclosure certificate of every partner involved in this partnership.

Companies

This section is applicable if you are applying as a company. In this section we ask for the name, address, date of birth and basic disclosure certificate of every director involved in this company.

Scrap metal dealer site

In this section we ask if you operate or propose to operate a site in another local authority area, along with details of this site, the council which has licensed it, or to whom you have applied for a licence.

If your site(s) were established after 1990, then you are required to have planning permission from the relevant council. You will need to tell us if this is the case, and it will be checked with the council’s planning department for that area.

Motor salvage

This application now includes a question on whether you are acting as a motor salvage operator which means you now only need a scrap metal collector’s licence because the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 brings together the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964 with Part 1 of the Vehicles (Crime) Act 2001.

Bank accounts, payment and criminal convictions

Under Section 12 of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, cash cannot be used by any scrap metal dealer to buy or sell scrap metal. Only payment by a non-transferable cheque or an electronic transfer of funds will be acceptable and this will mean that payments will be able to be linked to a readily available bank account. This is why we ask for the bank accounts that will be used for payments to suppliers. We ask this to check that you are not selling the metal for cash, which is illegal. These details will be kept securely by the council.

We ask you to provide any convictions of relevant offences or any enforcement action taken by the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales for each listed partner, listed director or listed site manager on your application.

Please note it is an offence under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 to make or recklessly make a false statement. The information you provide will be checked against the basic disclosure certificate from Disclosure Scotland which you submit with your application, along with information retained by the police and the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales.

Fees and charges

The fee for this licence is £280. You can pay online or by cheque. Please note applications will not be accepted unless the correct fee has been paid.

The fee reflects the costs of processing the form and checking that licensing conditions are met (checking that people are doing what the licence requires).

Declaration

The person who will hold the scrap metal dealer’s licence needs to sign and date the declaration, as do other people who may be named on the form.

Last updated: ‎26‎/‎03‎/‎2024‎ ‎13‎:‎57‎