Agenda item

The report of Alissa Davies (National Management Trainee, Licensing Team North and West) seeks to inform Members of the results of public consultation on a single, council-wide street trading scheme.

The Committee received an introduction to the report from Alissa Davies, Wiltshire Council National Management Trainee, Licensing, outlining the main issues raised by public consultation on a proposed council-wide Street Trading Scheme.

Having received a high level of response to the public consultation, the key issues raised were as follows:

·         The scope of the scheme’s application, including the type of trading and the inclusion of private land;

·         Perceived bureaucracy and length of  time it would take to determine applications; and

• Levels of fees for prospective Street Trading Consent holders.

Additional issues were identified as follows:

·         Overlap with the functions of the Department for Neighbourhood and Planning – for example  Highways and Planning and

·         The council’s position on competition between street traders and fixed business premises.

The Committee considered and discussed the report in detail, and it was,

Resolved:

To accept the proposed measures to overcome the issues raised by public consultation, subject to the following amendments prior to a second, shorter public consultation on the revised street trading scheme:

(i)                 Options at paragraph 6.2 of the report to be accepted with the following amendments:

·      Pt 1 to read ‘... within 10 metres of any road, car park or industrial estate with the word ‘street’ removed from the sentence

·      Pt 3 to read ‘non-commercial, community or charitable events where the profits are wholly passed to a charity or political/educational organisation or otherwise not for private gain.’

·      Pt 5 to read ‘goods from working farms or smallholdings sold at the premises...’

(ii)               Paragraph 7.7 of the report to be accepted pending amendment to read ‘The Council should not have a role in controlling competition between street traders and fixed business premises if street traders are paying street trading fees to the council.’ Amendment of Appendix 1 (page 62) to remove the criteria ‘Needs of the area...’

(iii)             To retain the exemptions listed in paragraph 3.3 of the report, pending amendment of pt 3 to read ‘...within 200m of a school or college’. Amendment of Appendix 2, pt 10 of the report to  read ‘No Street Trading Consents will be granted for trading at locations within a 200 metre walk using the public highway of a school or sixth form college, unless otherwise agreed in writing by Wiltshire Council.’

(iv)             Appendix 1, paragraph 4, pt 1 of the draft scheme to be amended to read ‘... except where those premises are occupied by the person holding the Street Trading Consent, unless otherwise agreed in writing by Wiltshire Council.’

(v)               Proposed fee structure to be accepted, with ‘Town Centre’ areas to be defined as those within the boundaries of Town Councils, and those areas to be subject to the higher rate of fees. The lower fee rate will therefore apply to all areas outside Town Council boundaries, unless agreed otherwise in writing by Wiltshire Council. Officers to prepare a list of Town Councils to be considered at the next meeting of the Licensing Committee.

(vi)             Town and Parish Council markets to be exempt from the Street Trading Scheme, although they may choose to follow the Wiltshire Council fee structure.

(vii)           Appendix 2 of the draft scheme (page 78) to be amended so that ‘Daily Street Trading Consent – Sunday to Friday’ represents a fee of £30 a day for Town Centre Traders and ‘Daily Street Trading Consent’ represents a fee of £15 a day for All Other Traders, and that ‘Town Centre Traders’ be amended to read ‘Town Traders’ in line with point (v) above.

(viii)         That the timescales for processing applications be set at 60 days from start to finish, with a 30-day public consultation. This will sit broadly in line with the processing targets for planning applications.

(ix)             To accept paragraph 6.4 of the report pending amendment to read ‘to revise the scheme to reduce the number of Standard Conditions for all street traders to avoid duplication of existing legislation’

(x)               To accept paragraph 6.6, pending amendment to read ‘to replace detailed references to additional legal requirements with a sentence reminding traders that all other legal requirements must be met. Applications for other legal requirements may incur an additional cost to the street trader.’

(xi)             To accept paragraph 6.10 of the report, pending amendment to read: ‘to  allow street traders to pay fees in instalments and issue a refund of part or all of the street trading fee where a trader  has paid business rates. The refund will be based on the amount of business rates paid, not the rateable value of the business.’

Subject to the recommendations above, it was,

Resolved:

To consider details of the revised Street Trading Scheme and results of the second public consultation before recommending the Scheme for adoption by full Council on 8 November 2011.