Agenda item

To consider the attached report for a Street Trading Consent.

The three Councillors that presided over this item were Councillors R Morgan (Chairman), I Hadley and S Neville. The Chairman introduced the Members and Officers present. There were no attendees present for the application. Olive Porter from Essex Highways attended as an objector.

(a)        The application before the Sub-Committee

The Licensing Compliance Officer, D Houghton, informed the Sub-Committee that an application for a renewal of a Street Trading Consent had been received on the 6 November 2020 by John Henry White, Camps Hill Farm, Levans Green, Ware SG11 1HD, to trade at the site next to the Shell Garage at the Wake Arms Roundabout, Epping High Road, Epping CM16 5HW. The application sets out the relevant licensing activities applied for and times requested:

(i)    The sale of flowers, plants and trees, Monday to Sunday from 08.00 – 21.00 hours.

(b)       Presentation of the Application

The Applicant was not present.

(c)        Questions from the Sub-Committee to Officers

Councillor R Morgan asked the Licensing Officer, D Houghton how long had Mr J White been trading at this site.

D Houghton advised that she did not know exactly how long he had been trading on this site but she believed it to be over 4 years. She also advised that Mr J White only traded on this site for 4-5 weeks every year before Christmas as he mainly sold Christmas trees.

Councillor S Neville asked how many complaints had there been regarding this Street Trading Consent.

D Houghton advised that she was only aware of one complaint and that was obstruction of the bus layby where cars and vans parked making it impossible for the buses to pull into the layby and therefore the bus had to stop further up the road blocking the carriageway.

(d)       Presentation of the Objector

Olive Porter from Essex Highways stated that Essex County Council could not support this application due to concerns raised over the past 2/3 years and complaints that they had received. One complaint, which must be taken seriously, was from a father whose child was put in danger whilst trying to get off of a bus in between parked cars and a car pulling out and not seeing the child which resulted in her nearly being hit by the car. Customers were continually pulling into the bus stop whilst picking out their trees this in turn inconvenienced the buses and their passengers. The piece of land was very near to the exit of the Shell Garage with cars pulling out turning left and right and it was therefore not safe to park in the layby as this caused traffic congestion and visibility issues especially if a bus had to park in the middle of the carriageway because it could not access the layby.

(e)        Questions for the Objector by the Sub-Committee

The Sub-Committee Members had no further questions to raise.

(f)        Consideration of the Application before the Sub-Committee

The Chairman advised that the Sub-Committee would now proceed into private deliberations to consider the application. Therefore, the webcast was stopped and would resume when the private session was completed.

During their deliberations in private session the Sub-Committee received no further advice from the Officers present.

RESOLVED:

That the application for a renewal of a Street Trading Consent to trade at the land next to the Shell Garage at the Wake Arms Roundabout, Epping High Road, Epping CM16 5HW be refused for the following reason:

(i)          In the interests of Public Safety.