Home
Articles
Classified Ads
Links
Books
Contact Us

 

 

 

 

 


ALBATROSS
PUBLICATIONS

PO Box 523
Horsham
West Sussex
RH12 4WL

Tel:
01293 871201

Fax:
01293 871301

FEEDBACK -

Trevor Turner, B. Vet. Med., MRCVS

An interesting point was raised in a recent letter by Mr J D Ranner of Banham Farm Cattery, near Maidenhead, which concerned the provision of staff accommodation.

Kennel staff recruitment in a rural area obviously needs a reasonable standard of staff accommodation to be available and this can at times be a difficult problem.

Mr Ranner wrote to ask if there were any Environmental guidelines in respect of staff accommodation for kennels and similar establishments. Basically he enquired whether kennels and catteries would come within the agricultural designation under which farmers can qualify for certain planning concessions in respect of the erection of dwellings for agricultural workers.

The short answer to this is No! I learned this to my cost when running our kennels in the Chilterns. Situated in an area of great natural beauty I had innumerable applications for planning for staff accommodation turned down.

However, I did manage to secure temporary permission for staff to be accommodated in a mobile home on the site and although application had to be made on an annual basis, this did at least relieve the problem of staff accommodation during the busy boarding season. Prior to that my alternative had been to arrange accommodation in the village. This was not impossible but not very convenient since those without transport faced a two-mile walk each way in part along a country road with neither footpaths nor street lighting.

One only has to look at the situations vacant adverts to realise that a large number of kennels and catteries do offer accommodation. I think it would be interesting to learn of others' experiences particularly in view of checks regarding gas safety, electrical small appliances, council tax and the like. What have been your problems?


Service Providers and boarding - Are you submerged in regulations?

In December 2001 K & CM received a letter from Mr & Mrs Tuton of Scammonden Boarding Kennels & Cattery outlining difficulties they had encountered with the local Water Authority in respect of the water supply (Water Fitting Regulations 1999). Apparently taps fitted with check valves to prevent back flow had been deemed insufficient and at the time of inspection the water authority insisted on the construction of a break tank with installation of a pump to restore lost water pressure.

On reading this I was just amazed. Just prior to the sale of our large commercial boarding kennels I had undertaken considerable development and had had very helpful advice from our local water authority with the accent on reduction of capital outlay as far as possible in line with compliance with the then national regulations. The net result was a suggestion that all new installations should be fitted with one-way taps, i.e. fitted with a non-return valve, and a suggestion that existing outlets should either have the taps replaced with those with an integral one-way valve or have such a valve fitted separately between the supply and the tap.

I was specifically informed that it would be necessary to comply with the new regulations as far as all new installations were concerned but that existing installations could be converted over the next few years.

Rather earlier than this we faced the same problems at the veterinary hospital. Considered to be a high risk situation as long ago as 1995, we were being advised that all outside taps and any standpipes should be fitted with non-return valves. Again the service providers were helpful and there was certainly no question of "break tanks" being mentioned.

I would be interested to learn of the experiences of others in this field.

It is Mr Tuton's view that the various regional water authorities appear to be singing to different tunes, some rigorously enforcing the regulations as published while others taking a more relaxed view, particularly in the case of existing installations.

I would be very interested to learn of any difficulties and solutions since this applies not only to water supplies but also to safety requirements for electrical and gas installations.

Feedback