Agenda item

The Committee considered a draft Street Trading policy. Street Trading in the Borough was regulated by the Council, and street trading consents had been issued to 14 temporary/permanent traders, with trading prevented on prohibited streets.

The Committee was advised that the Council currently had a Camberley Town Centre Street Trading Policy published in 2013, but this had since become outdated due to the public realm works that had taken place.

Approval was sought from the Committee to consult on the new Borough-wide draft policy. The report also  sought approval for a new street trading resolution that would amend the current list of prohibited streets. The results of the consultation would be presented to the Committee on 16^th February 2023 and the policy was intended to take effect on 1^st April 2023.

New provisions in the policy related to having clearer criteria against which applications would be considered, new environmental and healthy eating criteria, wider consultation and an expanded list of consent conditions.

Following Member's discussion, several key points were raised and were as follows: 

1. A number of streets, including existing shopping parades and arcades, were currently listed as prohibited streets, and this had been subject to change since the original resolution was put in place.
2. Big Issue vendors were not subject to street trading controls.
3. Ward Councillors had been asked to participate in the consultation.
4. Following consultation with Police, Highways, those streets designated as prohibited would not be open to consent requests.
5. The Borough’s tackling obesity objectives had been taken into consideration when drafting the policy.

RESOLVED that

(i)                             the draft Street Trading Policy in Annex 1 of the report be approved for Consultation; and

(ii)                           a new street designation resolution be sought that would list the prohibited streets, rescind the current list of consent streets and designate all existing streets that are not prohibited streets as consent streets and any new streets thereafter, to ensure that the Council retains control over street trading in the borough.