Court battle looms over street traders (From Swindon Advertiser)
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Court battle looms over street traders
8:20am Wednesday 11th August 2010 in
THE row over the town centre street traders will come to a head next week as Swindon Borough Council tries to obtain a court order against them.
Five stallholders have been summoned to attend Swindon County Court on Friday, August 20 as the council bids to get an injunction to prevent them from trading in their current locations in The Parade, Regent Street, Bridge Street and Canal Walk.
The controversy began in October last year when the council’s licensing committee announced it was to ban street traders as part of the town centre regeneration.
But in March this year several traders defied council demands to vacate their pitches as thousands of residents signed a petition in support of them.
It was revealed in the Adver in April that the owners of the former Bhs store in The Parade, Ignis Asset Management, had written to the council to ask they remove the traders before the start of any regeneration work.
A council spokesman said: “None of the traders who are in The Parade or in Regent Street has permission to be there and this has been the case for a number of months.
“We have written to them asking them to comply with the law, but we have now been given no choice but to apply for a court order, which will be considered on August 20.
“It is the court that has summonsed the traders to the hearing. If the council is granted the order, and the traders continue to occupy the sites, they will be in contempt of court.
“We would advise them to take legal advice about the possible consequences of this if they haven’t already done so.”
One of the traders who has been summoned, Pasquale Bretti, who runs Swindon’s Number One Street Cafe, in Edgeware Road, said: “They’re taking us to court for obstruction after we’ve been in that location for 10 years and 16 years in the town centre.
“I have got a licence which says it is valid until September this year. We’ve invested a lot of our money into the business and now we might lose it all. I just want it over with.”
Mr Bretti is also displaying the five stars the council awarded him on its Scores On The Doors food hygiene scheme.
All five of the summoned traders refused to move when the banning order came into force on March 31 this year.
Speaking at the time ice cream stall owner Mario Bretti told the Adver: “The council are the ones that put me here in the first place, and I have worked hard since to build a business. I have been in business for 35 years. I have a right to earn a living without being treated in this fashion, it’s not right.”
Comments(22)
doug on the farm
says...
9:12am Wed 11 Aug 10
Bobfm
says...
9:16am Wed 11 Aug 10
politicrat
says...
9:22am Wed 11 Aug 10
Taffynut wrote:which councillors voted to evict the traders?
This saga is long overdue! I cannot see why SBC are evicting those honest traders who have given shoppers value for money and have delighted us in many ways. The bigotted Council have only themselves to nblame for empty shops highlighted in the Adver, yet the Street traders have not committed any unreasonable offence, it is those bigotted Councillors who are lining their pockets with our taxes for putting people on the scrapheap, If there was a refrebdum, I would vote for the traders. What about beggars? they are STILL roaming the town centre yet the council are doing ABSOLUTELY nothing. Many of the traders are part of the street furninture and have been for decades, wake up SBC and show yourselves as a Borough to be proud of not something to be ashamed of and leave those traders alone to earn their living.
In the next election, remember their names and vote to sanction!
Al Smith
says...
9:41am Wed 11 Aug 10
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As for those who are stomping their feet about what the owners of the BHS store have done. Well I have no problem, if moving on a few street traders (yes they do have somewhere to go - the market) will help lead to the regeneration of the town centre then it's a price worth paying.
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Bobfm - if the street is privately owned then I think it comes from planning permission laws as the parade is a public footpath / right of way and as such is a public highway (I'm no expert though).
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passphrase: cost-huge yeah **** right!
Retired at last
says...
10:17am Wed 11 Aug 10
Jayne35
says...
10:37am Wed 11 Aug 10
eveabc
says...
10:58am Wed 11 Aug 10
The Real Librarian
says...
11:03am Wed 11 Aug 10
I do wish someone could clarify the position over the Parade. It is owned by a private company and leased out to the shops, so where does SBC get the power to take the street traders to court.
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That is the point. Whose street is it. There has been some suggestion it is private land.
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Anyway, I don’t want the council wasting my money on this. If some noxious private company want to have this action take place, let them pay for it.
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Like Politicrat says, we should find out which councillors voted to evict these poor beggars. If mine did I won’t be voting for him again.
Gooey
says...
11:10am Wed 11 Aug 10
rmc001
says...
11:14am Wed 11 Aug 10
The Real Librarian
says...
11:21am Wed 11 Aug 10
http://www.swindon.g
ov.uk/yourcouncil/co
uncillors.htm
polska77
says...
11:46am Wed 11 Aug 10
Al Smith
says...
11:46am Wed 11 Aug 10
The Real Librarian wrote:I don't claim to understand this but as I see it:
As Bobfm, says...
I do wish someone could clarify the position over the Parade. It is owned by a private company and leased out to the shops, so where does SBC get the power to take the street traders to court.
.
That is the point. Whose street is it. There has been some suggestion it is private land.
.
Anyway, I don’t want the council wasting my money on this. If some noxious private company want to have this action take place, let them pay for it.
.
Like Politicrat says, we should find out which councillors voted to evict these poor beggars. If mine did I won’t be voting for him again.
A privately owned 'road' can be public right of way - if the public has a right to pass and repass (it doesn't have to have been adpoted by the council for a right of way to exist).
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Being a public right of way means it is classified as a Public Highway (a highway can be a footpath, road etc...). So potentially The Parade is privately maintained public highway (Severn bridges are another example)!
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In order to trade on a Public Highway a trader requires street trading licence - these are under the control of SBC.
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This is what give SBC the power to get rid of the traders, and I guess ownership of the land might give Ignis the right to ask the council to remove them (or not renew as I think the licences have to be renewed).
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The Brunel Centre probably has no public right of way as public access is restricted to opening times. So in the Brunel Centre there can be 'street traders' without need to get permission from SBC.
mich202
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1:45pm Wed 11 Aug 10
Oik1
says...
2:34pm Wed 11 Aug 10
the gorgon
says...
2:34pm Wed 11 Aug 10
mich202 wrote:Fair enough, but what would you do if a property company came along saying that they're prepared to spend £25million (during a recession) to knock down a horrid 1960's building and build a brand new one, but the only condition is you get rid of few street traders? I know what I'd do - I'd ask them when do you want rid of them! Harsh, I know but this is real life and the job of SBC is to look at the bigger picture and from what has been said here the traders can go to the market, so can still earn a living.
Will someone please let Swindon Borough Council know that Swindon Town Centre needs updating and tidying up not getting rid of 5 street traders that most people don't want removed or that cause any problems to anyone. Getting rid of these traders will not smarten Swindon up and lets face facts, we will never be Bath, Oxford or Bristol!!!
trustnopolitician
says...
2:34pm Wed 11 Aug 10
Even fewer reasons to go to the Town Centre and be ripped off of by many of the so called "national companies).
Why not bulldoze the Town Centre and build social housing in its place - there are plenty of alternative shopping places at Green Bridge, North Swindon and West Swindon
Our Councillors are mostly control freaks - do it our way or not at all - the town would be well rid of them
Jiver
says...
5:11pm Wed 11 Aug 10
even if they were no, there is no good reason to evict the traders.
A new BHS shop will not solve all that is wrong with Swindon.
Some of the main pitfalls, of Swindon, are caused by lack of cohesive community, lack of civic pride, aimless development and ugly congested sprawl. When compared with Bristol and Bath, Swindon has destroyed its history / heritage and has no character. Swindon therefore fails badly in the tourism market. One big shop will not solve any of the above.
The bigoted , scheming SBC / Ignis alliance should leave the honest traders alone.
John Smith II
says...
9:56pm Wed 11 Aug 10
I do not believe that these street traders detract from the ambience of the town centre and are certainly a cut above some of the lower grade traders who are in shop units.
I might be wrong, but I can't think of any town centre shops that would offer me a fresh ice-cream cornet or a decent selection of fresh cut flowers. Also I don't see any mention of SBC chasing the others who litter the town centre as I walk about during my lunchtime, offering me satellite TV, ambulance-chasing legal services or other such things that I am not interested in - are their stands and trailers not equally in the way?
So to sum up:
* In my opinion the street traders are not degrading the town and are a better asset than some shop based traders
* The street traders are providing some goods and services that are otherwise not available
* Other organisations seem to be permitted to market their goods and services using similar vehicles and stands to the street traders in similar locations - and irritate me (and no doubt many others) by approaching me try to sell me things that I am not interested in
* Over this issue SBC are becoming somewhat of an embarrassment to me as a council tax paying resident of the town - I wish they would channel the money I pay them and their resources into more constructive activities than pursuing a few small business people, who are proactive enough to get up in the morning and try to make a decent living for themselves
tiggermead
says...
11:09pm Wed 11 Aug 10
Al Smith
says...
9:46am Thu 12 Aug 10
Jiver wrote:There's no good reason for Topdrug in Wood Street to have to close, but they have to as their lease has run out and the shop is going to be turned into a restaurant.
The comments, by Al Smith, regarding traders using the tented market, are irrelevant. Everyone knows the rates are extortionate.
even if they were no, there is no good reason to evict the traders.
A new BHS shop will not solve all that is wrong with Swindon.
Some of the main pitfalls, of Swindon, are caused by lack of cohesive community, lack of civic pride, aimless development and ugly congested sprawl. When compared with Bristol and Bath, Swindon has destroyed its history / heritage and has no character. Swindon therefore fails badly in the tourism market. One big shop will not solve any of the above.
The bigoted , scheming SBC / Ignis alliance should leave the honest traders alone.
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Every small shop owner should know that unless they own their shop (or have a very long lease) they are, at end of the day, at the mercy of their landlord. That's the real world for you!
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Are these stall holders doing so badly that they can't afford an outdoor pitch at the tented market?
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How's about this for a community - a nice market community, where the public can go to get flowers, mobile phone bits, ice creams etc. Once the market gets a critical mass and hence enough footfall it has the potential to thrive, having the street traders there would help acheive this.
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I've nothing against these street traders, but anyone who runs a small business knows you MUST be adaptable. If I had been a street trader I'd have gone to the owners of the market and had a bash at negotiating myself a deal on the rent for moving early and hopefully got myself a good pitch.
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I read in the music press that what is supposed to be the oldest record store in the world has had to move it's shop in Cardiff, because of big increase in their rent. I'm sure they could have gone to court to fight the rent increase, instead they've apparently moved a few hundred meters, that is called being adaptable.
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Taffynut says...
8:37am Wed 11 Aug 10
Many of the traders are part of the street furninture and have been for decades, wake up SBC and show yourselves as a Borough to be proud of not something to be ashamed of and leave those traders alone to earn their living.