Content

Notification of decision following a Licensing Panel hearing to
determine an application for a temporary street trading licence
pursuant to the London Local Authorities Act 1990, as amended
 

SITE:           
62 Stalls between 209-137 Chiswick High Road, Chiswick W4 2DU, W4
2ED
 
TO:
            
Street Food Ventures Limited (“the
Applicant”)
  
TAKE NOTICE THAT
following a hearing before the Licensing and General
Purposes Sub-Committee (“the Licensing Panel” or
“Panel”)
 
ON 22 August 2023
The London Borough Of Hounslow, as the
relevant Licensing Authority
 
 
RESOLVED:  That the application for
a Temporary Street Trading licence for 62 stallsto be located
between 209-137 Chiswick High Road, Chiswick W4 2DU, W4 2ED was
GRANTED subject to the Council’s standard
Pre-Licensing Conditions as set out in Appendix ii of the
Council’s Street Trading Policy and the Council’s
standard Street Trading Conditions as set out in Appendix iii of
the Council’s Street Trading Policy and to the additional
conditions set out below (to be added to the Council’s Street
Trading Conditions): 
 
74.     
The term of the licence shall be 3 months from the
date of issue.  There will be no renewal
of the licence.
 
75.     
This Temporary Street Trading
Licence is not effective until the Applicant has and maintains the
insurance policy required by condition 7 of the Council's
Pre-Licensing Conditions. The insurance certificate or cover note
evidencing this shall be produced to the Licensing Team before the
Street Trading Licence is issued.
 
76.      This Temporary Street Trading Licence is not
effective until the Applicant has and maintains the suitable waste
contract required by condition 12 of the Council's Pre-Licensing
Conditions. Details of the contract must be produced to the
Licensing Team before the Street Trading Licence is
issued.
 
77.     
The licence holder shall be permitted to operate no
more than 20 pitches on the south side of Chiswick High Road
(“the Site”) between Devonshire Road, Chiswick and
Linden Gardens, Chiswick.
 
78       Pitch
holders shall not arrive on the Site to set up pitches before
8:00amand all Pitch holders’ vehicles shall leave the Site by
no later than 10:00am.  Pitch
holders’ vehicles shall not return to the site before 5:00pm
and shall leave the site by 6:00pm.
  
 
 
REASONS:
 
The
Licensing Panel convened to determine an application in respect of
the grant of a Temporary
Street Trading Licence made pursuant
to section 31 of the London Local Authorities Act 1990 (the
“Act”) in respect of an application for
up to 62 stalls covering a stretch from 209-137 Chiswick High Road,
Chiswick, W4 2DU, W4 2ED.   A full
copy of the application with detailed maps and photos of proposed
locations and with photos of previous events is shown as Appendix
A, with an email from Gareth Doherty, the Transport Planner for the
Council giving consent to the use of the public highway for this
market on the dates and times requested attached as Appendix
A1.
 
The
application sought to authorise the Applicant to run a food market
on the public highway but not encroaching on the Hogarth Statue to
be held every 4th Sunday for a six-month period. The proposed area
would cover a stretch running from Chiswick Police Station to Metro
Bank and appeared to include areas comprising both car parking
areas and pavement space.  The
application is for 62 stalls and the proposed hours of business
would be from 11:00 AM until 4:00 PM.
 
The
Licensing Panel carefully considered all the relevant information
including:
 
-    Written
representations submitted by all the parties
-
   Oral representations made by the
parties during the licensing panel hearing
-    The London Local
Authorities Act 1990 (“the Act”) and the steps
appropriate to promote the Licensing Objectives
-    Hounslow
Council’s Street Trading Policy (“the
Policy”)
-    The Human Rights Act
1998
 
Following the consultation the Council received one
representation from a local Ward Councillor, namely Councillor
Biddolph, and 39 representations against the application and 56
representations in support.   These
are shown in Appendices B, B1 and B2, respectively.
 
Mr
Richard Johnson on behalf of the Applicant company was in
attendance along with a colleague, Glenn, from a business called
Blue Collar.  Councillor Biddolph and
eight local residents were also
present.
 
Mr
Johnson said that he wanted to run a street food market and that he
had lived in Chiswick for 20 years. He believed that hosting an
event in Chiswick would be a great opportunity that would help to
save the High Street.  He was against
Amazon and believed that people visiting the market would drift off
and visit other local businesses.  He
believed that by bringing footfall into the local High Street,
local businesses would benefit.  He had
leafleted local businesses and whilst he was aware that two local
businesses were against the idea seven or eight local businesses
supported him including Chiswick House and Fuller’s who ran
the George IV public house.  Mr Johnson
wanted local businesses to have the opportunity to showcase their
businesses. He stated that whilst he was seeking 64 stalls it was
unlikely that it would start off with this number, but it was hoped
that this would grow.
 
During questioning the Applicant was asked about the
demonstration stage and whether there would be regulated
entertainment.  The applicant explained
that they would not be playing music and the licensing officer
informed the Panel that the applicant would not need a separate
licence where it was solely the human voice being
amplified. 
 
The
Applicant was also asked about the waste contract and his colleague
advised that they were not able to enter
into a waste contract until the licence was granted but they
would usually enter into a contact with the local authority’s
waste team or if not with a local contractor.  The Applicant’s colleague explained that
there was an incentive for traders to remove cooking oil and gas as
they would get a discount from the suppliers if it was recycled on
the purchase of further cooking oil and gas. 
 
The
Applicant was asked what would happen if traders breached the
licensing conditions and for example left litter or dumped cooking
oil?  The Applicant’s colleague
responded that if it was a local business that was new to street
food, they may see if they could work with them again but if it was
a seasoned trader they would not work
with them again.  They anticipated that
vans would arrive to set up stalls from 7:30am and leave the site
by 9:30am.  Vans would return to clear
the site at 5:00pm and have left by 6:00pm.  They had arranged parking for the traders at St
Mary’s School, Hogarth Youth Centre and the Catholic Centre.     
 
 
Under
the Policy, the Panel considered factors such as public safety,
prevention of crime and disorder, the prevention of public
nuisance, the appearance and suitability of the stalls or vehicles,
the needs of the area, environmental credentials, food traders,
highway and 
any history of the applicant.  
There were questions from the objectors about the need for some of
the proposed food stalls given the number of existing food
businesses in the area.   The
Applicant stated that street food was different experience to the
experience of sitting down in a restaurant in a bricks and mortar
establishment.  The Applicant
highlighted that there were already businesses selling similar
cuisines to each other on the Chiswick High Road, so there was
already competition in the area.
 
 
The
objections to the application raised several points, but the main
issue was the effect on competing bricks and mortar businesses, and
the nuisance caused by litter, the potential for noise nuisance
caused by traders setting up at 7:30am on a Sunday morning,
visitors parking their cars on nearby residential roads, thereby
causing parking issues for residents and their guests.  
 
DECISION:
 
The
matter of Temporary Street Trading Licences for a London Local
Authority is set out in section 31 of the 1990 Act, which states
that:
 

(1)      
A borough council may if they think fit on the
receipt from any person of an application for that purpose and
accompanied by the appropriate fee grant to that person a temporary
licence.

(1A) A council may grant a temporary licence in any
street, whether or not it is a licensed
street.

(1B) In the case of an application for a temporary
licence which, if granted, would authorise street trading on land
which falls within paragraph (b) in the definition of
“street” in subsection (1) of section 21
(interpretation of Part III) of this Act, the applicant shall
provide evidence in writing–
(a) that
he has the consent to trade on the land from the owner of the land
in question; or
(b) that
he is the owner of the land in question.
 

(1C)An application for a temporary licence shall not
be granted, if the licence would authorise street trading on land
which falls within the said paragraph (b), unless the applicant has
provided sufficient evidence, as is mentioned in subsection (2A) of
section 25 (application for street trading licence) of this Act, to
satisfy the council.
…..
 

(2)    A temporary
licence shall be valid only for the day or period specified in the
licence and–
(a) shall
be in the like form as a street trading licence with such
modifications therein as the circumstances require; and
(b) shall
prescribe such conditions as the borough council deem
appropriate.
…
 
Section 21(1) of the 1990 Act defines “street” and
“street trading” as follows:
 
“street” includes–
(a) any
road or footway;
(b) any
other area, not being within permanently enclosed premises, within
7 metres of any road or footway to which the public obtain access
without payment–
(i)
whether or not they need the consent of the owner or occupier;
and
(ii) if
they do, whether or not they have obtained it;
(c) any
part of such road, footway or area;
(d) any
part of any housing development provided or maintained by a local
authority under Part II of the Housing Act 1985 (c. 68);
 
Therefore, the legislation provides the Local Authority a
measure of discretion when deciding whether to issue a Temporary
Street Trading Licence.  
Furthermore, its Policy provides for all applications to consider
various issues as set out therein, which include consideration of
public safety, prevention of crime and disorder, prevention of
public nuisance, the appearance and suitability of the
stall/vehicle and environmental credentials.  The Policy also requires applications to consider
the needs of the area, this being the demand for the articles for
sale and the geographical location of the proposed site.
 
Taking all matters into account
the Panel was concerned about the strength of feeling of both those
in support of the application and those against the application
because of the impact of the proposed market on their existing
businesses and of the need for the Council to promote community
cohesion.  As a consequence the Panel felt that it was for the
Applicant to demonstrate good attempts to engage with local
residents and local businesses as the Council’s Street
Trading Policy required the Council to consider whether the goods
to be sold replicated those in neighbouring stalls or shops as well
as whether there were sufficient traders in the area and the needs
of the area.  In Order to address this
concern the Panel felt that it was
necessary to reduce the number of stalls as well as the area of the
High Road in which the licence holder was to be permitted to
trade.  Whilst the decision to restrict
the area of the High Road in which the licence holder was to be
permitted to trade and to reduce the number of stalls was unanimous
the decision to reduce the number of stalls to 20 was decided by a
majority vote of 2 to 1.     
 
The Panel considered that the
Applicant could not be expected to address the objectors’
concerns about litter and noise nuisance and how the licence would
be operated without affording the licence holder the opportunity to
operate the licence.  However, as the
Panel was required to consider the environmental impact in order to
address the concerns about litter the Panel felt that it was
necessary to introduce a further condition requiring the Applicant
to have a waste contract in place before the licence was granted
and to introduce a further condition regarding times when the
traders could bring vehicles to the site to set up and take down
the pitches.
 
In deciding that there would be
no renewal of the licence the Panel wanted to make clear to the
Applicant that if the Applicant wanted to renew the licence a new
application would be required which would include a renewed
consultation period of 28 days plus a potential Panel hearing
before the Licence may be granted.  The
Applicant was strongly advised to seek necessary permissions,
licences, and, where appropriate, planning permissions before
making a commitment to any financial outlay and before applying for
the Street Trading Licence.  It would be
for the Panel who considered the new application to decide on the
duration and terms and conditions of the new
application.  The Panel did not want the
Panel who considered the new application to be in any way bound by
the licence that it granted at the present hearing.     
 
The Panel decided to GRANT the
Temporary Street Trading Licence application subject to the
Council’s standard Pre-Licensing Conditions as set out in
Appendix ii of the Council’s Street Trading Policy and the
Council’s standard Street Trading Conditions as set out in
Appendix iii of the Council’s Street Trading Policy and to
the additional conditions set out below (to be added to the
Council’s Street Trading Conditions):
 
74.        The term of the licence shall be 3 months from the date of
issue.  There will be no renewal of the
licence.
 
75.       
This Temporary Street Trading Licence is not effective until the Applicant has and
maintains the insurance policy required by condition 7 of the
Council's Pre-Licensing Conditions. The insurance certificate or
cover note evidencing this shall be produced to the Licensing Team
before the Street Trading Licence is issued.
 
76.        This Temporary
Street Trading Licence is
not effective until the Applicant has and maintains the suitable
waste contract required by condition 12 of the Council's
Pre-Licensing Conditions. Details of the contract must be produced
to the Licensing Team before the Street Trading Licence is
issued.  
 
77.        The licence holder shall be permitted to operate no more than 20
pitches on the south side of Chiswick High Road (“the
Site”) between Devonshire Road, Chiswick and Linden Gardens,
Chiswick.
 
78.        Pitch holders shall not arrive on the Site to set up pitches
before 08:00amand all Pitch holders’ vehicles shall leave the
Site by no later than 10:00am.  Pitch
holders’ vehicles shall not return to the site before 5:00pm
and shall leave the site by 6:00pm.
 
There is no right of appeal by
any party in relation to the determination in respect of a
temporary street trading application. 
The decision of the Panel is therefore final.