Street Trading Policy

Overview

Local authorities have the power to allow or ban ‘street trading’ in the areas they are responsible for.

‘Street trading’ is defined in law as ‘the selling or exposing or offering for sale of any article (including a living thing) in a street. A ‘street’ includes roads, footways, beaches and other areas which the public have access without having to pay.

Before the formation of Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT), both West Somerset District Council and Taunton Deane Borough Council made decisions allow street trading, subject to the granting of consents. Each Council adopted a policy to describe the how the authority would determine applications for consents. These policies have continued to govern how street trading is treated in the two former Council areas.

SWT is proposing to replace the two existing policies with one policy for the Somerset West and Taunton area, which would remain in force until such time as Somerset Council adopts a policy of its own. It is not yet known when how soon that might be, so it is important that our area has a policy that is fit for purpose until then.

As part of new policy, the Council is:

• Proposing to require notices to be displayed at locations which are the subject of an application for a consent, for the duration of the application's representation period.
• Proposing to allow any interested party to submit a representation against an application, for consideration by the Licensing Authority. For example, a local resident.
• Proposing to reduce the duration of the consultation period for consent applications if the consent is for less than a year. This would specifically benefit those applying for trading at one-off events.

The Council is carrying out a public consultation on the proposed policy.