Street Trading Consents

From the 1st September 2020, if you trade in any street within East Herts, you may require a Street Trading Consent before you start to trade. Applications can be made via our online form and can take up to 42 calendar days to be processed. 

You must provide specific information as part of your application, including details of the street you wish to trade on and the days and time you wish to trade.

Types of street trading consents

• Occasional street trading consent
  Consent to trade for a maximum of twenty-eight consecutive days.
• Annual street trading consent
  Consent to trade on specified days for a year.
• Enhanced Street trading consent (Market Traders)
  Consent to trade in Hertford's and or/Ware's town centre locations on former "market days", including Hertford farmer's market.  To apply for an Enhanced Street Trading licence, please see our Market Traders page

Eligibility Criteria

In consultation with partner agencies such as the Police and Hertfordshire Highways, all applications for street trading consent will be assessed against the following criteria:

• Public safety
• Public order
• Prevention of public nuisance 
• Appearance of the stall or vehicle
• Environmental impact
• Highway safety
• Lay-by safety
• Proximity to schools and colleges
• Trading hours
• Suitability of the applicant (including being over 17 years of age)
• Suitability of sanitary accommodation 
• Suitability of waste disposal
• Type of product being sold
• Food hygiene training (if applicable)
• Food hygiene rating (if applicable)

Street trading consent fees

Fees will be set and reviewed annually as part of the Council's fees and charges setting process.

Should the consent holder wish to vary the Consent at any time during the life of the consent, an administration fee will be charged.

Where street trading ceases during the term of consent, refunds will be calculated depending on the remaining time left on the consent:

• 6 months or more - a refund of 25% of the fee paid.
• 3-6 months - a refund of 10% of the fee paid.
• Less than 3 months - not eligible for a refund.

Registered charities wishing to apply for a Street Trading Consent will receive a 50% discount on the occasional or annual fee. 

You can find out the latest charges on the Environmental Health Fees & Charges page

Submitting an application 

Existing consent holders should submit their application, if they wish to have continuity of trading, at least six-weeks before the expiry of their current consent. If a renewal application is not made at least six-weeks before the expiry of the current licence, the Council will not have sufficient time to process the application before the current consent expires. Where this occurs the trader will have to stop trading when the current consent expires and will not be allowed to trade until the new consent is issued.

Each static street trading consent application can only relate to one site. Therefore if a trader wishes to trade from different sites at different times, they must apply for each one separately. 

A valid new or renewal application must consist of the correct fee as well as the items listed below. Failing to include them may delay your application:

a) a map showing all streets and other public areas within a radius of 200 meters from the proposed location of the street trading site, where the trader is static. Maps are not required for peripatetic traders such as ice-cream vans. The map shall be to a scale of 1:2000 and clearly indicate the location of the site in the centre of the map, and the locations of other street traders and outlets trading in the proposed area. 

b) a letter, where trading is proposed on private land, from the land-owner confirming that the applicant has permission to trade from the site. This may be subject to additional fees and charges imposed and collected by the land owner. 

c) a passport-style photograph of the applicant.

d) proof of eligibility to work in the UK.

e) four colour photographs of the trading unit illustrating the different elevations of the unit. 

f) evidence that both applicant and assistants have completed the required food hygiene qualification (for food related applications).

g) evidence of having a suitable method for waste disposal where applicable. 

In addition, either at the time of the application, or once the application has been approved or prior to it being issued, the applicant must provide the Council with the following:

a) An original copy of a certificate of insurance covering the street trading activity for third party and public liability risks of up to £5 million.

b) A current MOT certificate and insurance documents where a motorised vehicle will be used for street trading.

Where appropriate the vehicle, van, trailer or stall or other device to be used for the proposed street trading activity will be inspected by an Authorised Officer of the Council, prior to the issuing of any Street Trading Consent.

You can apply for occasional and annual Street Trading Licence online via GOV.UK. 

Tacit consent does not apply. This means that you will be need confirmation of a granted licence before trading.

How applications will be determined 

Your application will be evaluated against the criteria set out in the policy and against any reasonable and appropriate objections. 

The Council will approve the application if it:

a) meets the criteria set out in the policy, and 

b) there are no reasonable and appropriate objections. 

If the application does not meet the criteria in this policy, or there are reasonable and appropriate objections the Council will contact the applicant and objectors to attempt to resolve the potential reasons for refusal.