The Licensing Team Leader introduced the report which asked Members to consider proposed amendments to the current Swale Street Trading Policy.  She advised that the current policy was adopted in March 2021 and explained that whilst the current provisions within the policy had worked well for those traders who had six-month or yearly consents, there had been issues with one-off consents which required a consultation period of eight weeks and for applicants to obtain a basic Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.  The Licensing Team Leader gave an example of how the demands of the policy and length of consultation process had caused problems with event holders and drew attention to the summary of proposed changes at Appendix II on page 57 of the report which could overcome this.

The Licensing Team Leader said that all event organisers submitted an event management plan which involved the same agencies as those consulted for Street Trading Consent and it was therefore an unnecessary duplication.  She added that applications for one-off street trading consents were not required unless they were part of an event.

Referring to the requirement for a basic DBS check, the Licensing Team Leader said one-off traders did not pose the small safeguarding risk that those trading from the same location and holding a six monthly or yearly permission did. In addition, the current policy stated that DBS checks for one-off traders would be required ‘where necessary’ without specifying when this would be required, and so had been carried out for all applications creating unnecessary costs and paperwork.

The Licensing Team Leader said that, if approved, the draft policy would go out to an eight-week consultation which would include all previous holders of one-off consents, before coming back to the Licensing Committee with responses and final adoption.

In the debate that followed, Members made comments including:

·         Sought clarity on numbers in a ‘series of events’;

·         sought clarity on paragraph 3.4 of the policy;

·         suggested the Police and the Chair of the Safety Advisory Group be included as a consultee;

·         suggested ‘event organisers for regular annual events’ instead of naming specific events as at paragraph 5.2 on page 29 of the Agenda;

·         raised concern over the risk of malicious complaints if the nature of complaints was not specified as at 5.5.2 in the policy, on Appendix 4, and suggested adding ‘substantiated’ to complaint in order to deter malicious complaints; and

·         did the policy cover the Friday market traders?.

In response, the Licensing Team Leader explained that some exemptions were included in the Act.  She detailed how consultees were contacted as part of a wider group and said that most complaints came from the public and details of a complaint were always thoroughly considered. The Lawyer (Contentious) warned against being too specific about the nature of complaints, so as not to fetter their discretion. The Licensing Team Leader advised that the Friday market traders were mostly mobile traders and the policy did not cover this.

A Member raised concern that the Policy might not be in place in time for summer events and suggested that the consultation period be set at four weeks in order for the Policy to be agreed by Full Council. In the discussion that followed, a Member suggested the policy be accepted by the Committee with a waiver to take out the requirement for a DBS check before being discussed at Full Council.  The Lawyer (Contentious) explained to Members that there needed to be a lawful basis to carry out a DBS check and it was not appropriate to prejudge Full Council’s decision.  She added that officers currently had discretion not to carry out a DBS check where it was not “necessary”.

Councillor Mike Whiting proposed that the consultation period be reduced to four weeks.  This was seconded by Councillor Lee McCall and on being put to the vote all Members agreed.

Councillor Alan Horton proposed that the Police, Safety Advisory Group and regular event holders be included as consultees.  This was seconded by Councillor Richard Palmer and on being put to the vote all Members agreed.

Councillor Alan Horton proposed that Members do not anticipate DBS checks for one-off events during the consultation period.  This was seconded by Councillor Palmer and on being put to the vote Members agreed.

Resolved:

(1)  That the amendments as set out in the above minute be included in the Swale Borough Council Street Trading Policy 2021 – 2024. 

(2)  That the policy consultation process to include the additional consultees as set out it in the above minute be noted.