Agenda item

Mr Tee Smith

The licensing Officer introduced the report, he explained that an application had been made by Mr Tee Smith for street trading consent in respect of two mobile ice cream vans. 

He advised that the times he proposed to trade were every day between 17:00 – 22:30, although this would be on an infrequent basis and that the vehicle Mr Smith would use was pictured at Appendix A of the report.

He explained that trading is prohibited in certain locations in the council’s adopted policy and such restrictions were outlined at paragraph 2.2 of the report. An objection to the application had also been received from a Cheltenham Borough Councillor and this was highlighted at paragraph 3 of the report.

The Licensing Officer explained that he had had further correspondence with Mr Smith who was happy for a condition to be imposed on the licence which prohibited the use of chimes. He also stated that he only intended to trade in town centre car parks and was happy to cease trading earlier than 22:30 if deemed necessary by the committee.

The Licensing Officer informed the committee that they could:

·           Approve the application because Members were satisfied that the location, size of unit and type of goods are suitable;

·           Refuse the application because Members consider the location, size of unit or goods being sold to be unsuitable.

He further advised that they had the option to grant on a trial basis or grant with conditions.

Following questioning, the Licensing Officer confirmed that:

• Mr Smith had never been licensed in Cheltenham before;
• That there were 4 other licensed ice cream traders in Cheltenham, 3 of whom were licensed to trade all year and one of whom was licensed from April – September. 3 of them were licensed from 12:00-19:00 and the other from 11:00-19:30.
• He was led to believe that Mr Smith intended to park up in a location and then advise people via social media of his location, as opposed to continuously moving around.
• Mr Smith had claimed that in addition to selling ice cream he would also be selling desserts.

Following a discussion the Members raised the following points:

• Several Members had concerns over litter, particularly if Mr Smith intended to sell more than just ice creams. A discussion ensued regarding the possibility of producing a litter management plan or imposing a condition which would require bins at every location. In response, the Licensing Officer proceeded to read the relevant extract from the street trading policy which stated that when determining an application the impact of the proposed operation on the local environment should be taken in to consideration. 

• Members suggested that if Mr Smith was trading in private car parks that they would like to see an agreement from the landowner and that they would also like the landowner to approve the litter management plan.
• Concerns were raised as to whether it was fair to apply conditions to Mr Smith’s licence if such conditions were not imposed on the other ice cream traders. However, the Legal Officer reasoned that Mr Smith had agreed to conditions being applied during his conversation with the Licensing Officer and also that this application is different from all other ice cream traders in that the applicant intends to trade later in the evening.
• Following concerns about the predicted number of customers who would be gathering in car parks, the Licensing Officer advised that public safety was a factor outlined in the street trading policy which needed to be considered when determining an application and he proceeded to read the relevant extract from the policy.
• Members raised concerns that by granting an open licence Mr Smith could potentially trade from residential areas, not just car parks as he had suggested.
• It was suggested that a condition be applied which required Mr Smith to give the licensing team 48 hours notice of where he intended to trade so that the location could be approved.
• Members agreed that the licence should be granted for a 6 month period and then reviewed should any problems arise.
• Following further discussions, it was agreed that any conditions applied should be simple and enforceable and that requiring the licensing team to approve the location and seeing evidence of the landowner’s approval may not always be viable.
• Members felt that as they were unsure as to which locations he would be trading they had to cover all eventualities and so should reduce the operating hours.

Following further discussions, the committee agreed the following conditions be imposed on the licence:

1. Waste bins will be made available both for customers and for staff;

2. Trading times are limited to 1600-2200 Mon - Sat and 1600-2100 Sun;

3. Permitted to trade only on private land and private car parks, not on the public highway;

4. The location and date(s) of trading must be notified to the licensing team at least 2 working days in advance of trading;

5. The ice cream van’s chimes will not be sounded and any other music played at the site will be background music only and must not cause a disturbance to residents or other people.

The sub-committee proceed to vote on section 1.5.1 to approve the application subject to the above conditions because the Members are satisfied that the size of unit and type of goods are suitable.

Upon a vote it was unanimously

Resolved that the application be granted subject to the 6 conditions as outlined above and for a period of six months.