Licence refused for Waterside winter market in Stratford
THERE may not be a winter market on Waterside next year as the application for a licence has been refused.
Stratford District Council’s licensing panel last week considered an application by LSD Promotions to hold a new winter market on Waterside on various dates in the first three months of 2023, allowing space for between 50 and 75 traders.
The licensing panel arrived its decision on the following grounds:
- Very little information was submitted about the commodities proposed to be traded and whether similar commodities are already being traded in the locality. The Panel, therefore, found it extremely difficult to assess the question in the Policy about the needs of the area and whether there is a need for 10 additional market days on Waterside.
- The Panel noted that if the application were granted it would amount to 53 days of markets on Waterside in a year, about one a week on average, which the Panel considered to be potentially excessive.
- On balance, due to the lack of information in the application on the need for additional market days on Waterside, as required by the Council’s adopted street trading policy, the Panel decided to refuse the application
The decision has been welcomed by some businesses in Stratford who are part of newly formed Business Action Groups for Stratford-upon-Avon (BAGS) which was set up to improve the lives of residents and businesses. It has more than 70 members, many of them concerned about the number of markets in town and the impact on their trade.
Stratford BID has remained neutral throughout the winter market application, but there are some in the business community who would like to see it do more to protect its members, who pay an annual levy, and help safeguard their trade and livelihoods from events such as the Waterside markets which they claim seriously hit the retail, food and pub trade in the town.
BAGS is keen to point out that it has no problem with markets in Stratford providing they are located in Rother Street, an area which has traditionally been used for weekly markets.
BID manager Diane Mansell last week defended its position to the Herald and said: “The BID takes a neutral stance on markets as our most recent survey of members on markets showed an almost equal three-way split.
“A third of member businesses were generally supportive of markets, a third were generally against them and a third had no particular opinion either way.
“The BID board therefore decided the fairest way it could represent its membership as regards to market alterations was to notify all our members of any applications and advise how objections and comments could be made directly to the licensing authority.”
The Waterside markets could still make a winter appearance if LSD Promotions reapplies for a licence and meets the criteria expected by the licensing panel at the district council.
