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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:           
20 Stalls at Market Place, Brentford TW8 8EN
 
TO:
            
Brentford Voice CIC (“the Applicant”)
  
TAKE NOTICE THAT
following a hearing before the Licensing and General
Purposes Sub-Committee (“the Licensing Panel” or
“Panel”)
 
ON 31 October
2023 The London Borough Of
Hounslow, as the relevant Licensing
Authority
 
 
RESOLVED:  That the application for
a temporary street trading licence for 20 stallsto be located at
Market Place, Brentford TW8 8EN is GRANTED in respect of the
following:
 
to run the market from 10:00am
to 5:00pm on the first Sunday per fortnight
  
And 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 save that
the Panel decided that condition 12 of the Pre-Licensing Conditions
would be removed from the licence.
  
REASONS:
 
1.         
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 20 stalls at Market Place, Brentford TW8
8EN.).   A
full copy of the application with detailed maps and photos of the
proposed location 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 B.
 
2.         
The application seeks to authorise the Applicant to
run a market on the public highway to be held every Saturday and
Sunday for a six-month period. The proposed area would cover Market
Place, Brentford TW8 8EN and is shown edged red in the plans
attached to the application (at pages 14 and 16-19 of the
Agenda).  The
application is for 20 stalls and the proposed hours of business
would be from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM.
 
3.         
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 Act  and the steps
appropriate to promote the Licensing Objectives
-     Hounslow
Council’s Street Trading Policy (“the
Policy”)
-     The Human Rights
Act 1998
 

4.         
Following the consultation the Council received one representation
from a local business against the application.   This is attached as Appendix C.
 

5.         
Mr Jim Storrar on behalf
of the Applicant company was in attendance along with a colleague,
Dr Robert Smith.  The objector from
Daniels Restaurant was not present.
 

6.         
Mr Jim Storrar said that
Brentford had suffered during the recession and due to a lack of
development but the Council’s Town
Centre vision sought to encourage activity in the market place such
as street markets.  There had been a
market in Brentford for over 700 years since the reign of Edward I
in 1306.  The Applicant said however
that they recognised that it would be too much for Brentford Voice
to run the market without help and that they would get a
professional company to help them with things like the food safety
requirements.
 

7.         
During questioning the Applicant was asked about
Brentford Voice and what the purpose of the market was.  Mr Storrar explained
that they were a Community organisation
with about 100 members and around 1000 followers.  The Applicant wanted to make a
contribution to the viability of the town
centre.  He explained that the main
purpose of the market was to encourage local artists including
potters and painters but that they would also hope to include a few
food stalls.  
 

8.         
The Applicant was also asked about whether they
would be able to run the market every Saturday and
Sunday.  Mr Storrar conceded that they would not be able to run
a market every weekend and said that they would want to operate on
Sundays.  Dr Smith asked if he could
have an adjournment to discuss what they were seeking with Mr
Storrar, and so the Panel allowed an
adjournment for 5 minutes.   
 

9.         
The Applicant was also asked about the waste
contract and he said that his company
would ensure that all waste will be removed by traders at the end
of each market.
 

10.     
After the adjournment Dr Smith said that they would
be seeking to operate once a month but hoped to build up to every
Sunday by the end of the six-month period. Dr Smith said that they
would be in a position to provide the
Council with the name of the company that they were planning to use
to manage the market by the end of the week.
 

11.     
Mr Storrar in responding
to the Objector’s objections said that there were
a number of other establishments in the
area with toilets including a Morrisons and that there was
therefore no need to use the Objector’s toilets.  They wanted to encourage local businesses
including the Objector’s business and hoped that it would
benefit from the increased footfall that they hoped that the market
would bring.
 

12.     
Mr Storrar said that
they would have to charge stall holders to cover Brentford
Voice’s costs of running the market.   
 

13.     
Under the Policy, the Panel will consider factors
such as public safety, prevention of crime disorder, the prevention
of public nuisance, the appearance and suitability of the stall or
vehicle, the needs of the area, environmental credentials, food
traders, highway and the any history of the applicant.   There were questions from the Panel about
waste.   The Applicant stated that
the previous licence holder operated the market without a waste
contract but that they ensured that stall holders removed their own
waste.
 

14.     
The objection to the application raised several
points, but the main issue was that they were concerned that the
market would be on private land and they
had already given permission to other market traders to use the
Objector’s land for a market. 
They also were concerned about market traders using their toilets
and the number of stall in the proposed
market and it disrupting their business.
 

15.     
The Licensing Officer and Mr Storrar both advised the Panel that the market
would not be trading on the objector’s land.    
 
DECISION:
 

16.   
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.
…
 

17.   
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);
 

18.   
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.
 

19.   
Taking all matters into account the Panel was
concerned about the objector stating that the proposed market would
be on private land but was persuaded that the market would only be
trading on public land and had the Council’s permission to do
so.  The Panel, having heard from the
Applicant, that it was initially only seeking to operate the market
on one Sunday a month at the beginning but hoped to increase
to operating on every Sunday by the end
of the 6-month period, felt that it was reasonable to allow the
Applicant to operate the market every fortnight and on Sundays
only.
 

20.   
The Panel was also concerned that the Applicant
should inform the Council of the name of the company that the
Applicant would appoint to run the market and that traders did
ensure that all waste was removed from the site.  The Panel was concerned that the Applicant did not
propose to enter into a commercial waste  contract but on
the basis that the market would be operating primarily as a craft
market decided to remove condition 12 from the Pre-Licensing
Conditions.
 

21.   
The Panel has decided to GRANT the temporary
street trading licence application to run the market from 10:00am
to 5:00pm on the first Sunday per fortnight and 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, save
that the Panel decided that condition 12 of the Pre-Licensing
Conditions (regarding the requirement to provide details of the
waste contract at the time of the application) would be removed
from the licence.
 

22.   
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.