Members received the report of the Head of Service Environmental Services, Licensing and Community Safety outlining street trading controls to be amended in Bexhill and imposing controls in Ticehurst.

The Council could designate certain streets as consent or prohibited streets for street trading. Street trading was prohibited in consent streets unless the Council had granted a consent to do so. Street trading could take place in a street not designated as either consent or prohibited. Street trading controls did not apply to news vendors, rounds men or trading on a shop forecourt.

The Chair of the Bexhill Town Centre Steering Group (Councillor Bayliss) had requested that the existing consent streets for street trading for Bexhill be amended to designate Sackville Road as a consent street, to permit markets to be held there, which was supported by Bexhill Town Council.

In July 2021, Ticehurst Parish Council requested that the northern end of Church Street, the Village Square itself and the High Street, be consent streets. A policy was requested by the Parish Council to be adopted that consents would only be granted during events organised by Ticehurst Parish Council.

In October 2021, Members of the Licensing and General Purposes Committee resolved to advertise the intention to make street trading controls. A Public Notice was placed in local newspapers, namely the Bexhill/Battle/Rye Observer and Sussex Express on 29 October 2021.

The Committee was requested to consider re-designating all streets in the district (Battle, Bexhill, Robertsbridge, Rye and Ticehurst) so that the extent of street trading controls throughout the district could be ascertained from one document, if designating Sackville Road as a consent street and further streets in Ticehurst. 

Officers had delegated authority to grant consents if the policy adopted by the Council applied. In other cases, applications would be determined by this Committee. It was recommended that Members delegate this function to the General Licensing Panel.

A copy of the notice of intention to make the resolution was sent to the Chief Officer of Police and East Sussex County Council Highways for representations.  Appendix C to the report set out the representations received when the intention was advertised for Members’ consideration. The Council did not have any officers designated to enforce street trading controls, therefore if enforcement was required, officers would have to be taken off their existing duties.  The Police, however, could enforce the Orders, but would normally look to the Local Authority to take the lead.

Members considered the streets in each town in turn and the following points were noted during the discussions:

•           there would be no limit to the number of events held in Sackville Road, Bexhill per year (as was currently the case with Devonshire Road and Devonshire Square, Bexhill), but any applications outside the policy would be referred to Members for determination;

•           the details of the consent for Sackville Road, Bexhill had been mistyped in the Appendix and Members agreed it be amended to state ‘from its junction with Western Road to Marine Parade’;

•           it was a condition of all temporary road closures that emergency vehicles be given access if required and barriers removed immediately.  The Fire Service had been consulted and had not raised any concerns;

•           Members noted that there was an environmental impact from road closures and agreed that these would require mitigation by event organisers;

•           Members requested and it was agreed that further clarification be given in the Orders of the Prohibited Streets in Battle concerning the Abbey Green.  The Abbey Green was used for many events, the prohibited street would therefore only apply to sections of the roads surrounding the Abbey Green; and

•           it was clarified that applications for events in Ticehurst organised by the Parish Council would be delegated to officers for approval, any other applications would be referred to Members.

Members thanked the Head of Service Environmental Services, Licensing and Community Safety for his assistance in bringing the issue to the Committee.

RESOLVED: That:

1)         with effect from 7 March 2022, the streets in Battle, Bexhill, Robertsbridge, Rye and Ticehurst as set down in Appendix A, as amended, be designated prohibited streets or consent streets as indicated in the Appendix;

2)         the Deputy Chief Executive and the Head of Service Environmental Services, Licensing and Community Safety be authorised to grant consents for street trading in consent streets in accordance with the policies set down in Appendix B to the report;

3)         other applications for consents be delegated to the General Licensing Panel to determine; and

4)         the prescribed notice of this resolution be published in the local newspaper for two consecutive weeks.