Agenda item

STREET TRADING REPORT 2014/15

The Committee will consider the report of the Strategic Director for Place which seeks to set the process for the issuing of consents for the 2014/15 trading year.

 

Minutes:

Emily Bullimore (BID Street Operations and Street Trading Manager) provided Members with the Street Trading report 2014/15.

 

Members were advised that –

 

(a)

current licenses were due to expire on 31 March 2014 and it was proposed that the city centre consents and all hoe ice cream sites (vans) commence on Tuesday 1 April 2014  and end on Tuesday 31 March 2015;

 

(b)

consent fees were not adjusted in 2013/2014 however it was proposed that the consent fees for 2014/2015 were increased by 1.5% to cover the electricity connection costs for the pitches and maintenance works to be carried out;

 

(c)

the report was required to be presented to the Committee to give officers the authority to advertise the pitches under the Miscellaneous Provision Act; consents were only issued for a maximum of 12 months and ice cream consent applications would be considered by the Licensing Sub Committee;

 

In response to questions raised it was reported that –

 

(d)

the BID Street Operations and Street Trading Manager would be responsible for covering operations in the city centre; licensing information upon the City’s Market Charter would still be issued to the Licensing Committee;

 

(e)

there were access issues concerning the pitches on the Hoe (not relating to ice cream vendors) therefore those specific sites were still vacant; an update on this issue would be provided to Members via email;

 

(f)

it was the intention of the Council to take back responsibility for the electric payments for the pitches; this would ensure that the electricity points for each pitch were fully functioning and regularly maintained. Vendors would be billed for their use of electric;

 

(g)

traders would sign up for a 12 month licence and would be billed quarterly by the Council for their electricity use; this would enable the Council to put provisions in place to retrieve money from traders who had not paid whilst they were still under licence with the Council;

 

(h)

the BID Street Operations and Street Trading Manager was due to meet with a representative from a electricity company in order to discuss arrangements for billing traders; it was considered that, when events were taking place in the city and an electricity hook-up was required a reading would be taken from the electricity point on the morning of the event so that traders would be billed for exactly what they had used; Traders would be asked to sign to agree that the reading was correct;

 

(i)

charity money collectors were not the responsibility of the BID Street Operations and Street Trading Manager, these licenses were the responsibility of the licensing team and public protection service;

 

Agreed that –

 

(1)

the Consent dates for 2014/2015 are approved;

(2)

the Consent fees set out in Appendix 1, for 2014/2015 are approved;

(3)

the Assistant Director for Economic Development has delegated authority to approve, within Committee policy the issuing of Consents to existing city centre traders seeking to continue trading 2014/2015;

 

(4)

the Assistant Director for Economic Development has delegated authority to approve within Committee policy the issuing of Consents to new traders for vacant sites;

 

(5)

the Assistant Director for Economic Development has delegated authority to approve within Committee policy short-term street trading consents in association with other city centre events and commercial activity;

 

(6)

the Assistant Director for Economic Development has delegated authority to approve and set fees for ad hoc street trading applications within Committee policy;

 

The Committee Members thanked Emily for her report.

Supporting documents: