Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies.

Cllrs Willingham and Seacome declared they had visited the site with the Licensing Officer.

Application for street trading consent – The Beeches, Charlton Kings.

The Senior Licensing Officer presented the report relating to a street trading consent from Melissa Hobbs to sell drinks and refreshments from a mobile unit at The Beeches Playing Fields, Charlton Kings.  The consent was for 9 months and to operate from 07.00 to 18.00 hours every day.  One objection had been received from a local business trader.  The application was before committee as the Council’s policy had permitted locations which were entirely within the town centre and this proposal was away from the town centre.  An Officer recommendation was not given on this occasion and members were reminded to act in the public interest by considering the potential benefits for the wider community.

In reply to members’ questions, the Officer confirmed:-

·         That an initial charge of £113 was required to determine the application and if consent was granted there would be an additional charge to pay which was somewhat higher than in other places.

·         That the lease was for a 9 month trial period and any effect or risk to existing nearby businesses would be monitored during this time.

·         That pages 9 and 11 of the report had been duplicated.

·         The normal process was that consultation with the Parish Councils was not undertaken, but they had been consulted on the disposal of the lease and were happy with this.

The objector, Mr Raymond Dowling was invited to address the committee.  He said that members had seen his correspondence and objections so would not dwell on those but wished to refer to some points in the Officer’s report.  He stated that his ward councillors had raised concerns about the whole process and that he was not aware if the parish council had been consulted, nor had he been aware of any risk assessment having been carried out and thus it had not addressed any effect on the local economy. Regarding the disposal of the land for street trading, Mr Dowling had objected to this but not being au fait with the process may have done so incorrectly.  He drew members attention to some points in the policy, namely to sustain established shop keepers and felt there was some unconscious bias in the report. He said that people did currently make the 10 minute round trip from the playing fields to his café for refreshments, but if there was a kiosk on the field then they would not and this highlighted the negative impact this would have on his business.  He stated he had custom from all parts of the village and Sixways as he was situated in the hub of the community, but felt customers might by-pass him if there was another kiosk in the playing fields.  He said he was all for competition but that the margins were so tight, especially recently with the pandemic, and even a small negative trade impact could result in him folding and could also not be sufficient to sustain the kiosk. He stated his café was in a good location and was a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Chair wished to advise members of two points:-

·         The current Licensing Policy did not require Parish Councils to comment and he recommended that this be re-considered at the next full licensing committee.

·         In his role as Chair, he had received an anonymous complaint about an app based private hire operator.  He stated that anonymous complaints could not be investigated, so if someone had evidence of wrong doing, they needed to make a complaint in writing to the Licensing Team.