Licensing

Under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, anyone selling or exposing or offering for sale any article (including a living thing) in a street within the Medway area needs a street trading consent.

A street for these purposes includes any road, footway, beach or other area to which the public has access without payment, including highway service areas.

Medway Council has designated two types of street:

• a prohibited street, where no street trading is allowed;
• a consent street, where no street trading is allowed without consent.

All streets in Medway that have not been designated as prohibited streets are consent streets, although specific consent is needed for trading in Chatham, Rochester and Gillingham High Streets.

People selling food must also register with the Food and Safety Team, which will offer advice and inspect any vehicles or equipment that they trade from. If they do not live within the Medway area or store their vehicle there, they should register with their own council.

People wishing to trade on the same piece of land for more than 28 days in the year, whether it is public or private land, will also need to seek planning permission. People intending to trade on private land with permission from the owner, for example at boot fairs or markets, do not require a street trading consent. They will still need to register with the Food and Safety Team if selling food, however, and may possibly need planning permission.

Street trading consents are issued for one year and give consent to trade. They do not give consent to trade in a particular place and should it be deemed that an obstruction is being caused, a trader may be moved on by an officer of the council or a police officer.

The fees for Street Trading are:-

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