Agenda and draft minutes

The Democratic Services Officer advised the meeting of the procedure.

RESOLVED that a Vice-Chair was not required on this occasion.

Apologies were received from Councillors Emma Dixon, Caroline Roberts and Peter Turner. Councillor Neil Butters substituted for Councillor Caroline Roberts.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

There was none.

Guy Henderson, Manager of Southgate Shopping Centre, made a statement about the Street Trading Review. A copy of his statement is attached as Appendix 1.

Allison Herbert, General Manager, Bath Improvement District, made a statement about the Street Trading Review. A copy of her statement is attached as Appendix 2.

These were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Licensing and Environmental Protection Manager gave a PowerPoint presentation on the review of the Council’s Street Trading Policy and other street activities, with contributions from the Team Manager – Active Lifestyle and Events and the Customer Services Officer. A copy of the slides is given in Appendix 3.

The review had been used as an opportunity for a broad consideration of activities which, while managed by different services within the Council, are perceived by the public to form part of street trading. These include street trading itself, which is managed by Licensing, street markets, which are managed by the Council’s Events Team and promotional pitches, which are managed by Highways. Promotional pitches are not regulated by the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, but are perceived by the public to be part of the street trading scene.

The refreshed Street Trading Policy before the Committee today would be taken forward through the Cabinet and informed by key stakeholders.

There had been six weeks of public consultation in May and June this year. There had been 50 responses to an online survey, which were included with an analysis in Annex C to the report. Key feedback from survey responses related to:

Street Trading

·  whether the management of street trading should be outsourced – 69.7% of respondents wanted the Council to continue to manage it

·  the look and feel of the stalls

·  enforcement, particularly out of office hours (with fewer officers being available at weekends) -  as part of the revised policy standard conditions would be tightened up

·  rotation of pitches and the length of consent tenure

Promotional Pitches

·  clarity about the management of promotional pitches on the highway

·  conflict between street trading and promotional pitches

·  alignment of application processing with existing processes in Licensing

·  further criteria to be developed on criteria for acceptable promotions

Street Markets

One of the ambitions in the Council’s Strategic Review is to increase the number of street markets in the City centre and to encourage events that attract different audiences into the City. However, event and street market organisers face significant challenges: if someone wants to hold an event in Milsom Street, for example, they need to apply to the Events Office, Highways, Parking, Licensing, and Planning, if there is a change of use. There are many separate processes that have to be completed.  It is hoped to streamline the application process for event organisers. City-wide planning applications for events and street markets would be developed.  At the same time, the number of events and street markets needed to be controlled: Bath is a World Heritage Site, and many visitors came to view and photograph the architecture, and want to be able to do so without obstructions blocking their view. Encouraging events is part of a larger piece of work that needed to be done in co-operation with Planning and Highways and other parts of the Council. It is estimated that it will take a year to develop a co-ordinated approach.

Members made comments and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

The Environmental Protection and Licensing Manager gave a presentation. A copy of her PowerPoint slides is attached as Appendix 4.

She explained that Taxi policy was being reviewed:

·  to align with the proposals for Bath’s Clean Air Plan

·  to implement  a recommendation of the Ofsted Inspection of Children’s Services in 2017 that all taxi and private hire drivers undergo some form of child sexual exploitation awareness training, not just those involved in the transport of children

·  because the last review was in 2014 and there is a need to ensure  that the policy and conditions remain fit for purpose

Applicants for new licences would be required to pass a test on proficiency in speaking English. Some authorities have already introduced such a test. The test would be in accordance with a national standard. There would no appeal against failure, but applicants would be able to take it again.

It is proposed to adopt sections 165-167 of the Equalities Act 2010, which empower the Council to maintain a list of designated vehicles for wheelchair users and imposes duties on drivers of designated vehicles. The adoption of these sections will require approval by the Licensing Committee.

After a consultation process the policy will be presented to the Licensing Committee in October for comment before going to Cabinet for decision.

RESOLVED to note the update.