Statement regarding street trading outside licensed venues

You may have seen posts on social media this weekend claiming that South Oxfordshire District Council had banned street food trucks from operating at sites owned by Oak Taverns.

This is NOT true; we have not banned street trading at their sites.

Oak Taverns have not ensured that the permits required for street trading to take place legally at their sites in South Oxfordshire are in place. We have been in contact with them about this situation for a number of weeks with the aim of resolving this issue as quickly as possible. This issue concerns national legal requirements; we have provided them with guidance about this but at no point have we said that street trading was banned from taking place.

We were therefore disappointed that Oak Taverns chose to post inaccurate information about this situation on social media and the resulting comments that we received from members of the public.
Street trading consent is important as it helps to ensure public safety and that the venue is meeting its insurance requirements, as well as preventing nuisance or annoyance (for example from noise, litter and parking) to those in the area.

Street trading makes a valuable contribution our local culture and economy. The services that street traders provide for residents and visitors are hugely important and we are doing all we can to support them and to ensure there are no unnecessary burdens placed on them to operate safely and successfully.

We will continue to work with Oak Taverns with the aim of ensuring street trading can take place legally at their sites as soon as possible.

By law, all locations where street trading takes place, including on private land, require a specific consent to allow this to happen if members of the public can access the site without paying an entry fee. This is a national requirement which applies to all venues across the country. Individual mobile traders are also required to hold street trading consent for all the sites they will operate from.