Agenda and draft minutes

To elect a Chair for the meeting

Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary or affected interests in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

Any Member with an affected Interest in a matter must disclose the interest to the meeting.  There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an affected interest, but the Monitoring Officer should be notified of the interest, if not previously notified of it, within 28 days of the meeting.

The Panel was informed that that applicant had submitted their application for a new Street Trading Consent on the 8 May 2024. The application sought consent to trade hot foods, including kebabs, burgers, chips, chicken, and soft drinks between the hours of 16:00 and 23:00 Monday to Sunday.

The Panel’s decision was to grant the applicant a new Street Trading Consent for the applied for trading at the applied for pitch, together with the standard conditions as set out in the published Agenda pack. The consent was granted for an initial period of one month, which is to run as from the date to be agreed with the applicant and the Licensing Officer, and which will serve as an initial trial period and be subject to review. 

In reaching its decision, the Panel had regard to and was guided by the provisions of Schedule 4 to the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 and the Council’s “Policy For Determination Of Street Trading Consents” as set out in the published Agenda Pack.

In reaching its decision, the Panel noted that although the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 affords the Council ultimate discretion to determine such Street Trading Consent applications, that discretion is subject to the public law principles and duty of legality, procedural fairness, and rationality.

The Panel noted that the Council’s “Policy For Determination Of Street Trading Consents” prescribes six factors to have particular regard to in determining such applications, namely

1. The likely impact on the existing highway users either as a result of the use of the road by the trader or by the trader’s customers
2. The location relative to any residents or businesses likely to be affected by the use of the site
3. The nature of the trade
4. The trading times
5. Appearance
6. Impact upon the street scene  

Although also noting that the policy prescribes that the above factors to have particular regard to are not at the exclusion of others that the Panel, at its discretion, may wish to take in to account.

The Panel carefully considered all the information presented, both written and oral, from:

• the Licensing Officer who outlined the issues.
• the Applicant and his appointee.
• the Objectors / those having made written representations.

The Panel noted that, during the consultation period, five valid written representations had been received in respect of the application, one of whom had subsequently clarified, by way of supplementary written representation before the Panel, that they were not objecting per se to the application but, instead, were raising factors that they wished the Panel to consider in determining the application.

The Panel noted that the total representations received primarily raised concerns that, if the application were granted, potential problems might arise with increased traffic flow in the immediate vicinity, problems with access/unauthorised access to, and potential overcrowding of, the Priory Field Car park, risk of increased littering, public nuisance (particularly in evenings), risk of criminal damage to others’ property (including to the adjacent football pitches), perceptions of saturation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.