The Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety has submitted a report to update the Committee on progress with the Street Trading Policy Review Programme 2022-23 and seek approval for the draft Consultation Version to go out to public consultation.

Recommendation(s): That the General Purposes Licensing Committee resolves to:

1.    Note the current position and remaining proposed stages in the Street Trading Policy review timeline.

2.    Approve the draft Street Trading Policy Consultation Version at Appendix A to go out to public consultation.

3.    Note the proposed consultation arrangements.

4.    Recommend the proposed amendments to the Council’s Constitution (Appendix B) to Council for adoption.

David Stevens, Principal Lead Officer (Business Regulation Team), presented the report which set out an update on the progress of the Street Trading Policy Review Programme 2022-23 and sought the Committee's approval of the draft Consultation Version to go out to public consultation.

The Principal Lead Officer advised that the policy review timeline, endorsed by the General Purposes Licensing Committee at its meeting on 26 September 2022, was on target. He advised that it was anticipated that the public consultation exercise would run from Monday 12 December 2022 to Friday 13 January 2023.

Cllr Humberstone joined the meeting.

The Principal Lead Officer highlighted that the proposed draft Consultation Version introduced requirements including the use of sustainable food packaging and utensils and a ban on single-use plastic and helium balloons.

He also highlighted the proposed arrangements for Street Trading applications, renewals and debt management for those street traders who were in arrears. He added that the proposed draft Consultation Version sought to clarify arrangements in relation to charity and small community events.

In discussion, the Principal Lead Officer confirmed that the relevant internal Council teams would be consulted, including Environmental Sustainability, Waste Management, Economic Development and General Licensing.

In response to questions, the Principal Lead Officer confirmed that markets (e.g. Gloucester Green Market) were not within the scope of the policy.

The Committee requested that all those who made applications to the Event’s Team in the past year be notified of the consultation via email. The Principal Lead Officer undertook to pass on this request to the Events Team and to include the notification in the consultation plan.

The Committee requested the following amendments to the draft Consultation Version:

·         Add a definition for "single-use plastic and/or polystyrene" in the Glossary, reflecting the DEFRA definition

·         Include a narrative in the introduction section elaborating on the Council's guidance on Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change

·         Amend sub-section 5.8 by deleting the word 'normally'

·         Amend bullet point four in sub-section 5.8 by adding the words 'and sky lanterns'

·         Delete last bullet point in sub-section 5.8 and insert a new sub-section to form5.9 ‘Council will not allow the use, sale or distribution of single-use plastic in street trading in Oxford.’

·         State that the Council will provide guidance on environmental sustainability as detailed in 5.10(f)

·         Amend the consent conditions to include a requirement for Consent Holders to provide litter bins for customer use

·         Amend consent conditions to reflect the proposed amendments set out in the draft policy

The Committee resolved to:

1.    Note the current position and remaining proposed stages in the Street Trading Policy review timeline.

2.    Approve the draft Street Trading Policy Consultation Version (Appendix A) to go out to public consultation, subject to the amendments set out above.

3.    Delegate authority to the Principal Lead Officer (Business Regulation Team), to make the amendments to the draft Street Trading Policy Consultation Version (Appendix A) set out above, in consultation with the Chair of the General Licensing Purposes Committee.

4.    Note the proposed consultation arrangements.

5.    Recommend the proposed amendments to the Council’s Constitution (Appendix B) to Council for adoption, at the point at which the Street Trading Policy is recommended to Council for adoption.