Agenda item

REPORT OF THE LICENSING MANAGER

To comment upon the proposed Street Trading Policy for the Council, particularly in relation to any matters specific to Southern Rural.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the report be noted, and the following comment considered by the Licensing Officer in the final version of the proposed Street Trading Policy 2018-2025:

(2)       That the Licensing Officer be requested to inform Members of the rationale regarding Paragraph 3.4.2 of the Policy.

REASON FOR DECISION: To provide local input into the proposed Street Trading Policy 2018-2015.

The Licensing Officer presented a report in respect of the proposed Street Trading Policy 2018-2025.  He advised that consultation had commenced on a revised Policy, part of which was to seek the views of Area Committees.

He acknowledged that the Street Trading Policy did not affect any of the villages in the Southern Rural area, but was keen to discover whether street trading caused problems in any of the rural areas and whether there were any areas that would fall within the remit of the Policy.

By way of background, the Licensing Officer explained that the Council had adopted the appropriate Street Trading legislation in 2005.  In Street Trading terms, a “street” was a road, footway or other areas to which the public had free access (eg. car parks, shopping arcades).  Street Trading was the selling of goods that could be purchased and taken away at the time of purchase.

The Licensing Officer further explained that Charter Markets were exempt from Street Trading, as were shops that displayed some of their wares outside their frontages.  Typically, Street Trading covered burger vans, ice cream vans, ad hoc markets and community events.  In this latter regard, he stated that the revised Policy sought to continue to those parts of the existing Policy which provided encouragement for community events.

The Licensing Officer advised that the Council was able to designate streets as consent streets, where its consent was required to be able to trade within such streets;  prohibited streets, where trading would not be permitted at any time; or not to designate at all.  In 2005, the Council had chosen to designate as consent streets all streets within the District’s four main towns and the arterial roads which linked them.  Village roads/streets had been excluded from such designation.

The Licensing Officer commented that the Policy did not contain any prohibited streets, but appended to it was a list of streets where consent would not normally be granted.

In respect of Advertising Boards (A Boards) and tables and chairs outside restaurants/cafes, the Licensing Officer confirmed that those matters did not fall within the remit of street trading, but were instead the responsibility of Hertfordshire County Council under the Highways Act 1980.

The Licensing Officer stated that the main objective of the Policy was to protect the public from unregulated street traders.  The Policy also aimed to make things easier for community events to go ahead without having to go through the same process as commercial operators.  Accordingly, it was possible for an annual Town Centre consent to be issued to an appropriate Town Centre organisation (such as a BID company or Community Events Forum), so that all community or commercial operators wishing to trade within the town could approach the Town Centre organisation for permission to use their annual consent.  A cost could be levied on a commercial operator for use of the consent, with no charge for not-for-profit community organisations. This principal could be used in villages, if it was believed that there were problems that needed controlling through the Policy, whereby the Parish Council could hold a village consent if required.

Members queried whether the Parish Councils had been consulted regarding this Policy and questioned the stance, stated in the Policy, that an application for a street trading consent would normally re refused where the applicant had previously had a consent revoked.

The Licensing Officer advised that Parish Councils had not been consulted, but the Area Committees had. In respect of Paragraph 3.4.2 of the Policy, he would advise Members of the information in due course

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the report be noted, and the following comment considered by the Licensing Officer in the final version of the proposed Street Trading Policy 2018-2025:

(2)       That the Licensing Officer be requested to inform Members of the rationale regarding Paragraph 3.4.2 of the Policy.

REASON FOR DECISION: To provide local input into the proposed Street Trading Policy 2018-2015.