BERKSHIRE licensing chiefs are not backing down over huge hike in dog boarding fees which have been labelled as “barking mad.”

Dog-boarders across Bracknell Forest, West Berkshire and Wokingham borough were hit with a £400-plus hike in licensing fees in February 2020 after the Public Protection Partnership (PPP) —which covers trading standards across the three areas — put its prices up.

This means they will now have to pay £570 a year rather than £119 — an increase of more than 375 per cent.

READ MORE: 'New dog boarding fees are barking mad!'

Despite widespread opposition to the hike and persistent questioning from dog-boarders bewildered at the steep increase, PPP chiefs are pushing ahead with the hefty new fee.

Responding to questions from dog-boarders at a PPP meeting on Monday, September 28, chairman Hilary Cole said: “We believe that the rate we are charging is reasonable and proportionate.”

She explained how the hike was calculated, pointing to administration expenses, inspection fees, and additional monitoring.

The hourly rate, she said, is an averaged number which reflects the total cost of the expenses divided by the number of dog-boarders across the PPP area.

Cllr Cole continued: “We have liaised with our legal colleagues and they have reviewed both the amount of the fee, based on evidence provided about the workload requirement, and the level of transparency available to explain how the hourly rate was calculated.

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“It was concluded that whilst the rate may be appropriate, more could be done to expand on the issue of differential rates for those officers involved in the specific area of licensing.”

Bracknell Forest councillor Mary Temperton was present at the meeting representing dog-boarders from across the three local authority areas.

The Labour councillor pointed out the charge for each year involves paying a new application fee of £228 every time the licence is renewed, taking the total to £570.

She slammed the hike as “very unjust”, signalling that renewing a licence was a ‘tick-box exercise’ that takes up very little office time in comparison to the application process.

Cllr Temperton later added: “Covid has decimated these businesses.”

“License fees should not be of such a size that they are a deterrent to local businesses.”

READ MORE: More than 100 businesses could go bust because of new dog licensing fees

Karen Fleck, a dog-boarder based in Sandhurst who slammed the new fees as "barking mad", fears this hike could spell the end for many boarders across Berkshire.

And with the licence fee for 2021/22 set at £478 by PPP chiefs, she claimed increasing costs for her business would not be a practical step to take.

She told the News: “We can’t put our costs up to cover the licence fee — that’s ridiculous.

“I charge £30 a night. If [my customers] are going on a two-week holiday, that’s going to cost them a lot.

“People will go out of business. I think people will just start businesses from their homes and go ‘underground.’”

Karen is one of 113 dog-boarders across the PPP area who have taken the fight to the Partnership over the price hike issue.

Along with a handful of other campaigners, she set up a petition calling on the PPP to reduce the licence fee.

So far, it has reached almost 1,300 signatures and Karen is hoping to add yet more.

She added: “This is disgraceful and they shouldn’t be able to get away with it!”