6 Licensing of knackers’ yards.
(1)
A person carrying on the business of slaughterman or knacker shall not use any premises as a knacker’s yard without a licence from the local authority; and if he does he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding F1level 1 on the standard scale and the fact that animals (other than asses or mules) have been taken into unlicensed premises shall beprima facieevidence that an offence under this section has been committed.
(2)
A licence under this section shall expire on such day in every year as the local authority fix and when a licence is first granted shall expire on the day so fixed which secondly occurs after the grant of the licence; and a fee not exceeding twenty-five pence may be charged for the licence or any renewal thereof.
F2(3)
On receiving an application for the grant or renewal of a licence under this section, the local authority must publish notice of the application in one or more newspapers circulating in that local authority’s area specifying—
(a)
the address of the premises to which the application relates;
(b)
the period, being a period of not less than 21 days beginning with the day on which the notice is published, before the end of which any person may object to the grant or renewal of the licence; and
(c)
that any objections are to be made in writing to the local authority and, in the case of an application for renewal of a licence, are to be served on the applicant in accordance with subsection (4).
(4)
An objection shall not be entertained to the renewal of a licence under this section unless seven days previous notice of the objection has been served on the applicant:
Provided that, on an objection being made of which notice has not been given, the local authority may, if they think it just to do so, direct notice thereof to be served on the applicant, adjourn the question of the renewal to a future date, require the attendance of the applicant on that day, then hear the case and consider the objection as if the said notice had been duly given.
(5)
For the purposes of this section a licence shall be deemed to be renewed where a further licence is granted in immediate succession to a prior licence for the same premises.
(6)
Where any person has been refused a renewal of a licence under this section, such person may appeal to the Secretary of State against such refusal; and the decision of the Secretary of State shall be final.