Agenda item

To consider the attached report for a Street Trading Consent for Chunkyz Ltd under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982: Part III.

The three Councillors that presided over this item were Councillors, R Morgan, L Mead and J M Whitehouse. The Chairman introduced the Members and Officers present. The Chairman welcomed the public participants to the Sub-Committee. In attendance for the application was Ms A Prior. Ms A Famiglietti and Ms A Regueiro on behalf of the Station Road Residents Group were present as objectors.

 

(a)          Application before the Committee

 

P Jones, Licensing Compliance Officer, informed the Sub-Committee that an application for a Street Trading Consent had been made by Ms A Prior of Chunkyz Ltd to trade at the Loughton Club, 8 Station Road, Loughton, Essex IG10 4NX.

 

The application was for the relevant licensing activities applied for and times requested, as below:

 

The sale of hot and cold food and drinks:

·                Wednesday to Saturday 12.00 – 21.00; and

·                Sunday 12.00 – 20.00.

 

The application was received by the Licensing Authority on 17 February 2021. There was no requirement in the Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1982 to carry out any consultation, but the Licensing Officer had notified Essex Police, Essex Fire and Rescue Service, Environmental Health, Community Resilience, Essex County Council Highways, Loughton Town Council and the ward councillors. A public notice was also placed at the site.

 

The Council received two representations objecting to this application. The Council’s Environmental Health made no representation, but Senior Enforcement Officer, M Richardson, requested that additional conditions were added to the operating schedule, as detailed on page 42 of the agenda, to which Ms A Prior had agreed. Loughton Town Council and Loughton Residents Association Plans Group had no objection to this Street Trading Consent application. Essex Highways stated it had no jurisdiction, as the applicant was to be sited in Loughton Club’s car park.

 

The street trading consent could be granted for a period not exceeding 12 months.The Act provided for no appeal against refusals although decisions had been challenged in the Courts by way of judicial review on the grounds that the decision was not properly taken or that there was some procedural irregularity or breach of the rules of natural justice.

 

(b)          Presentation of the Applicant’s Case

 

The applicant, Ms A Prior, explained that the food trailer would be located at Loughton Club, was not a fast food hut but was more like trendy Soho street food. The agreement with Loughton Club was for a takeaway service, so people collected their food and left as no seating was provided. Most of the clientele were older. School children were not the target audience, but she did not think children were allowed out of school because of the Covid situation. The applicant lived in Loughton and had attended Roding Valley School High. ‘Chunkyz Health’ would sell healthier food options, such as smoothies, shakes and salads in future, in contrast to some food other established food eateries were serving in Loughton High Road. The rent being paid by Chunkyz Ltd to the Loughton Club would be helping the Club to stay open and this venture had saved her employment. Station Road was a busy route to Loughton Station. Nando’s was open later and also played music outside the premises so Chunkyz would not add any more noise pollution. Although there would be two new restaurants opening in Loughton, these would not affect Chunkyz as they would attract a different clientele. Ms Prior had a good customer relationship with the existing clientele who lived and/or worked in Loughton, of which over 80 per cent were families and over 25s and thought it unlikely that her customers would cause anti-social behaviour (ASB). Chunkyz would be closing before Loughton Club, which stayed open until midnight, and she did not want to stay open late to attract people who were leaving pubs. Ms A Prior stated that she had agreed to extra conditions requested by the Council’s Enforcement Team to deal with litter (page 42 of the agenda) and she had a contract with a private waste disposal service in place. The photos of overflowing rubbish were from Council bins and it was unfair to tarnish Chunkyz as it was not theirs. However, one of the job roles at Chunkyz would include picking up litter after busy times. Ms Prior was also hoping to be able to organise charity litter picking events to help collect rubbish as she did not like to see rubbish lying around. In reference to a resident’s letter referring to chicken bones being left on the street, Chunkyz only used 100 per cent locally sourced chicken breast, so it was a worry that some of the residents’ concerns did not accurately apply to Chunkyz food. Good comments had been left on Chunkyz website. People had made a choice to eat Chunkyz food and healthy options would also be available.

 

(c)          Questions for the Applicant from the Sub-Committee

 

Councillor J M Whitehouse commented that rubbish would be collected weekly, but what were the arrangements for its storage? Ms A Prior replied that there were big bins to store the rubbish in and others were used for recyclable rubbish. The weekly collections could become more frequent if this was needed as the contract was flexible and she had agreed to the additional conditions from the Senior Enforcement Officer.

 

Councillor L Mead asked where the food trailer would be kept, and would the bins have lids to prevent vermin reaching the rubbish? The food trailer would be located on site at Loughton Club and would have the wheels removed. The bins did have lids and Chunkyz was planning to have a contract with a pest control company should the need arise. 

 

(d)          Questions for the Applicant from the Objectors

 

Ms S Famiglietti asked how large the trailer was and where would it be situated? Ms A Prior replied that the food trailer was 10 feet by 10 feet and was in the front car park near the wall to the left of the entrance door. Two possible sites were detailed on page 29 of the agenda but she was finalising where to install the power line with the Club.

 

Ms A Regueiro asked how much of the packaging would be biodegradable and would bins be labelled to show different refuse types? Ms A Prior replied only cardboard and paper packaging would be used, and she was contacting a company about recyclable plastic pots, so around 90 per cent of packaging would be biodegradable. The labelling would be displayed on packaging to tell customers how to dispose of it at the point of sale. Chunkyz would have a staff member collecting rubbish and Ms Prior was keen to be involved in charity litter events. Currently Chunkyz business was 80 per cent delivery based and would also display notices about littering.

 

Ms A Regueiro asked about the age groups of Chunkyz customers. Ms A Prior replied that Chunkyz did not have a young age group base as most of her customers were older.

 

Ms S Famiglietti asked how Ms A Prior would address residents’ concerns? Ms A Prior replied that she would monitor any concerns raised and be proactive, and if necessary, contact the authority to be sure everything was satisfactory.

 

(e)          Presentation of the Objectors

 

Ms S Famiglietti stated that she was a Loughton resident and as a former governor of Roding Valley High School until 2020, she had been responsible for the healthy schools’ initiative. She respected that Ms A Prior was trying to start a new business but the trailer was located in the vicinity of other historic buildings, Loughton Club and Lopping Hall. Obesity in young people was a national crisis for every school including Roding Valley High School and obesity would be a problem after the lockdowns. The school was unable to provide enough food for school pupils with the social distancing restrictions in place. Although Healthy Chunkyz had been promoted at the meeting today, students might not buy healthy options but would look at the prices and possibly choose unhealthy options. There were ASB problems around the High Road in Loughton and fast food was not going to help, as large groups came in cars to sit outside and then drop their rubbish anywhere. She acknowledged that littering was not specific to this business but all fast food businesses.

 

Ms A Regueiro recognised it was a credit to Ms A Prior to start of business but she was looking at residents’ concerns. Residents in Station Road had seen problems with Loughton Club’s clientele when they went down their road. The Police did not respond very quickly to reports of ASB. People would sit in their vehicles and eat takeaways and then throw their rubbish out of vehicle windows. Other people would find seating elsewhere in the road. She was also concerned that Roding Valley High School students would be attracted to Chunkyz and reminded the Licensing Sub-Committee that Station Road was predominantly a residential road not a business road. She appealed for Chunkyz to work with Station Road residents and look at the hours when refuse was scheduled to be collected because of the noise from the refuse trucks.

 

(f)           Questions for the Objectors from the Sub-Committee

 

There were no questions raised by members of the Licensing Sub-Committee.

 

(g)          Questions for the Objectors from the Applicant

 

In response to residents’ concerns about littering, Ms A Prior replied that she understood why Station Road residents were worried, but rubbish was a bigger problem and was not just to do with Chunkyz. She reassured the two objectors that she would work with residents to resolve any future problems that might occur.

 

(h)          Closing Statement from the Objectors

 

Ms S Famiglietti had no further objections to raise.

 

Ms A Regueiro remarked that a lot of suppositions had been made and that the Licensing Sub-Committee needed to look at this. 

 

(i)           Closing Statement from the Applicant

 

Ms A Prior highlighted that she had a six-month trial with Loughton Club and that this would be an opportunity for Chunkyz to disprove points raised by Station Road residents.

 

(j)           Consideration of the Application by the Sub-Committee

 

The Council’s Legal Services Assistant Solicitor, R Ferreira, advised the Licensing Sub-Committee that each application should be looked at on its own merits. As this was a Street Trading Consent application, all conditions must be reasonable, and other conditions could be included if they were considered necessary, but not those based on suppositions, which could not be used. There was no appeal allowed to the Magistrates Court.

 

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

 

The Chairman stated that the Sub-Committee had taken its decision based upon the merits of the application and the relevant representations received. During their deliberations in private session the Sub-Committee received no additional advice from the Council’s advisory officers.

 

            RESOLVED:

 

            That the decision of this Sub-Committee was that the Consent be granted, subject to the following conditions:

 

(1)        This Authority’s Standard conditions.

 

(2)        The sale of hot and cold foods and non-alcoholic drinks.

 

(3)        Trading hours:

            (a)       Wednesday to Saturday 12:00 – 21:00.

            (b)       Sunday 12:00 – 20:00.

 

(4)        A sufficient number of suitable receptacles with properly fitted covers shall be provided for the purpose of receiving rubbish from customers. The receptacles shall be maintained in a clean condition and emptied on a daily basis as a minimum when the hereby permitted use was operational. The receptacles shall be constructed, maintained and located so that access to them by vermin was prevented and arrangements shall be made for regular lawful disposal of their contents by a registered waste carrier.

 

(5)        The public area immediately surrounding the premises shall be regularly cleared of waste food, food containers, wrapping etc, and left in a tidy state at the end of trading on each day. Such refuse shall be removed from the area and disposed of lawfully by a registered waste carrier.

 

(6)        Signs shall be placed in a prominent position while Chunkyz was operating, requesting customers to use the litter bins that had been provided for the disposal of any waste food, food containers and other litter.

 

(7)        The trailer must be situated and operated from the car park of the Loughton Club in one of the positions specified on page 29 of the Agenda.

 

The Chairman outlined the reasons for the decision of the Sub-Committee:

 

(1)        The conditions relating to litter were to prevent the creation of a public nuisance and to ensure that waste and litter was collected effectively and legally.

(2)        All of the conditions mentioned above were considered to be reasonable, relevant, appropriate and proportionate.

(3)        Once consent had been granted the Local Authority could vary any conditions attached to it at any time.

(4)        A consent could be revoked but the rules of natural justice must be observed by the Local Authority before any revocation took place.