The Licensing Regulatory Committee was scheduled to meet to discuss street trading fees and charges, as well as the committee's membership and terms of reference. The committee was also scheduled to note the minutes of the previous meeting.

Street Trading Fees and Charges

The committee was scheduled to discuss proposed changes to street trading fees and charges, which would come into effect on 1 August 2025.

The report pack included a report which stated that increased income was needed to pay salaries, fund market infrastructure repair costs and replenish the Street Trading Reserve Account. The report stated that the street trading reserve is a ringfenced account funded by surplus in higher income years, which supports the service during lower income years.

The report stated that the proposed increase of pitch fees would strengthen the financial position of Street Trading substantially, enabling the service to balance its budget and invest in the continued development of the Islington street trading offer.

The report also noted that a review of fees and charges found that most pitch charges have not been increased since 2010, 2011 or 2014. It also stated that Islington currently charges administrative fees that are too low to cover costs and does not have any penalty charges for late payment.

The report pack included a table showing current and proposed new charges for all street trading sites in Islington, including:

• Chapel Market non-hot food: increasing from £55-£66 per week to £66 per week
• Chapel Market hot food: increasing from £67-74 per week to £74 per week
• Exmouth Market: increasing from £45 per week to £70 per week
• Whitecross Market non-hot food: increasing from £46 to £50
• Whitecross Market hot food: increasing from £75 to £115
• Camden Passage: no change
• Arsenal games trading non-hot food: decreasing from £31 to £28
• Arsenal games hot food: increasing from £31 to £50
• Arsenal games private land non-hot food: increasing from £12 to £14
• Arsenal games private land hot food: increasing from £15 to £17
• Scattered sites and kiosks:
  • Angel: increasing from £82 to £106
  • Essex Road Area: increasing from £66 to £86
  • Nags Head and Seven Sisters Road: increasing from £79 to £103
  • Archway Area: increasing from £54 to £70
  • Wells Terrace/Finsbury Square: increasing from £79 to £102
  • St Agnes Wells/Wallace Road: increasing from £54 to £70
  • Caledonian Road/Durham Road: increasing from £26 to £34
  • Triangle City Road/Goswell Road: increasing from £51 to £66
• Shop front licences: no change

The report pack also included a table of proposed administrative and penalty charges, including:

• New/renew licence applications & registrations: increasing from £30 to £50
• Licence variation application fee: increasing from nil to £50
• Replacement stall card or new/replacement assistant stall card: increasing from nil to £30
• Panel referral charge: increasing from nil to £50
• Private land and shop front licence applications: no change at £100
• Private land and shop front licence renewals: increasing from £30 to £50
• New trading site designation fee: increasing from £1,025 to £1,400
• Removal and release of stalls/goods: no change at £200
• Storage of seized stalls and or goods per day: no change at £100

The report stated that Street Trading carried out a consultation on the proposals to raise fees and introduce administration and penalty charges, which ran from 27 March 2025 to 28 April 2025. The consultation consisted of placing a notice in the local newspaper and sending a letter to all traders by email, holding two online consultation sessions, two in-person consultation sessions and carrying out in-person visits to Chapel Market, Whitecross Street Market and Exmouth Market, delivering leaflets about the consultation and talking to traders.

The report stated that the consultation was hosted on the ‘Lets Talk Islington’ webpage and followed best practice for accessibility and information. The deadline for receiving responses to the proposals has now passed and the council received very low numbers of written responses, with 4 respondents.

The report included a summary of the responses to the consultation, and officers' responses to the points raised.

The report also included an Equalities Impact Assessment Screening Tool.

Membership, Terms of Reference and Administrative Arrangements

The committee was scheduled to note the membership appointed by the council on 15 May 2025, terms of reference and dates of meetings of the Licensing Regulatory Committee for the municipal year 2025/26.

The membership of the committee is:

• Councillor Ben Mackmurdie (Chair)
• Councillor Marian Spall (Vice-Chair)
• Councillor Satnam Gill OBE
• Councillor Gary Heather
• Councillor Heather Staff

The substitute members are:

• Councillor Rowena Champion
• Councillor Jilani Chowdhury
• Councillor Fin Craig
• Councillor Nurullah Turan
• Councillor John Woolf

The terms of reference of the committee are:

1. To determine applications for street trading and special treatment licences where there are unresolved objections to those applications.
2. To designate streets as licensed streets.
3. To revoke licences (except on the ground of non payment of fees).
4. To set and review policy in relation to the matters coming within the remit of the committee.
5. To take decisions on any other licensing matter referred to it by the relevant Corporate Director, except those which may lawfully be taken by the Licensing Committee established for the purpose of the Licensing Act 2003 and the Gambling Act 2005.
6. The hearing of representations and the determination of applications for a licence of a Scrap Metal Dealer, under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, where the relevant Service Director proposes to refuse or to cancel a licence or to vary a licence under section 4 of the Act and the applicant has given notice to the authority, within the prescribed time, that they require the opportunity to make representations about the proposal.
7. To determine the amount of any fees and charges to be made for any approval, consent, licence, permit or registration within the terms of reference of the Committee.
8. To set the standard conditions for street trading licences

The meeting dates for 2025-26 are:

• 9 June 2025
• 2 September 2025
• 13 January 2026
• 20 April 2026

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The committee was scheduled to note the minutes of the meeting held on 10 June 2024. ¹ The minutes of the previous meeting included discussion of:

• Pavement licensing fees and charges
• An application to designate an area of the highway on the footway in Junction Road outside the wall of the Archway tube station, for the purpose of street trading.