East Suffolk Council has adopted a Street Trading Policy in accordance with Paragraph 2 of Schedule 4 to the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 to control street trading. This policy only refers to the North of the district, since the former Suffolk Coastal District Council, which covered the South of the now East Suffolk district, did not adopt the legislation.
The Council has undertaken a review of street trading in the whole district and at its meeting on 16 October 2023, the Licensing Committee approved a consultation to end the current street trading arrangements and propose a policy whereby the whole district just has selected prohibited streets where no street trading can take place at all. Trading could take place in streets not deemed as prohibited streets without the need for a consent or licence.
The Council is therefore now consulting on the proposal to introduce a policy whereby the district just has selected prohibited streets where no street trading can take place at all. The remainder of the streets in the district would not be subject to regulation although the permission of the land-owner and/or Highways England will need to be obtained. We are not requesting suggestions for prohibited streets at this stage.
Street trading generally only takes place in the larger towns and villages and the lack of a street trading regime in the South of the district has caused very few significant issues. It is not anticipated that there should be a huge list of streets throughout the whole East Suffolk district which are deemed prohibited. The current Street Trading Policy gives an indication of the towns which have a few prohibited streets.
The Licensing Team at East Suffolk Council would welcome your comments about the proposal mentioned above. The consultation is open until 1 December 2023.
Please send your comments to:
Licensing@eastsuffolk.gov.uk or Licensing Team, Riverside, 4 Canning Road, Lowestoft NR33 0EQ.