Street Trading & Market Operator Licensing Review

Overview

The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (“the Act”) makes provision for the licensing and regulation of certain activities in order to achieve the following licensing objectives:

• Preserve public order,
• Preserve public safety,
• Prevent public nuisance, and
• Prevent crime.     

The Council is responsible for the licensing and regulation of a number of activities, including market operators and street trading.

Market Operator Licences are required by any person other than a local or public authority at which goods are offered by more than one seller for sale by retail to the public. Street trading licences are required by persons selling or offering to sell goods or services in a public place, including from a kiosk, vehicle or moveable stall.

The Regulatory Committee (“the Committee”) is responsible for determining applications for licences to carry out these activities and over the years it has developed a number of policies and conditions in order to regulate these licensed activities. As with any policy or condition, the Committee must consider whether to allow for any exceptions to be made on a case by case basis.

Why your views matter

While there is no statutory obligation to review existing policies and conditions, as a matter of good practice they should be reviewed from time to time to ensure that each policy and condition remains necessary and appropriate in terms of the above licensing objectives and in terms of promoting the Council’s key priorities, which include improving the efficiency and effectiveness of Council services, building a prosperous city and improving health and well being.

As such a consultation and review exercise is being undertaken to identify any changes which are considered necessary in terms of trading. We are now inviting views on issues which should be considered for policy development in this regard.

What happens next

The feedback from this consultation is currently being analysed and the findings will be reported to the Regulatory Committee in November 2015.