Report of the Director of Law and Governance

The subject of the decision:

The Director of Law and Governance submitted a report seeking consideration of an application for a Street Trading Consent for Mr David Wraight trading as The Yorkshire Highway.  The application sought to authorise the sale of food and drink from a mobile catering unit between the hours of 7am and 5pm Monday to Friday; 8am and 3pm on Saturday and 10am and 3pm on Sunday.  The proposed locations of the catering unit were identified on a map at Annex A of the officer’s report.

Alternative options considered:

The Panel considered the options outlined in paragraph 6.2 of the officer’s report.   The Panel was satisfied the application could be granted subject to standard conditions without posing a risk to public safety and therefore the Panel did not consider it necessary to refuse consent or to impose any additional conditions. 

The reason for the decision:

The Panel considered the report of the Director of Law and Governance, representations of the parties both written and oral, the Council’s Street Trading Policy and the relevant legislation. 

The applicant informed the Panel that the proposed site for the street trading licence application is a layby on the A684.  The applicant informed the Panel that the layby was used frequently by a range of vehicles and had clear sight lines for vehicles accessing and egressing from the layby in both directions.  The Panel considered video footage of a vehicle exiting the layby to travel eastwards along the A684 and on another occasion travelling westwards out of the layby.  The applicant informed the Panel that it was more common, from his experience, for vehicles to enter and leave laybys in the direction of travel.

The Panel considered a representation made by North Yorkshire County Council’s Highways Division in relation to highway safety concerns. Highways officers informed the Panel that the proposed site is a redundant section of former carriageway which is often used as an unofficial layby.  Highways officers informed the Panel that visibility from the western access of the layby has been assessed as 141 metres which is 74 metres less than would be required under the TD41/95 of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges.  Highways officers also informed the Panel that visibility for drivers travelling eastwards and turning into the eastern access is sub-standard.  Highways officers informed the Panel that due to the horizontal and vertical alignment of the carriageway the Highways Division was not was not able to improve visibility for vehicles accessing and egressing from the layby. 

The Panel was satisfied that the visibility splays for the layby were sufficient for vehicles to safely access and egress from the site. 

Highways officers informed the Panel that they did not support the application as they believe granting the licence could exacerbate existing concerns and intensify the risk to the public.  The Highways Division stated that although it did not want to encourage motorists to use the layby it had not been stopped up as it can be used  ...  view the full minutes text for item LAHP.1