Market Failure?: Can the traditional market survive? - Communities and Local Government Committee Contents


Memorandum by the London Borough of Newham (MARKETS 39)

  Newham is pleased to respond to the Committee's inquiry on how the provisions set out in the London Local Authority Act 1990 (LLAA) affect our local authority.

On the whole, the LLAA is a very useful set of legislation which provides officers with useful guidance on the daily operation of the markets. The one reservation we do have and would like to highlight however, is that some the legislation can be perceived as unclear and ambiguous therefore leaving it open to different interpretations by different officers.

  Our main concern is with two sections of the LLAA in particular:

1. Section 25 (11) states that a license holder can at any time surrender his/her licence which means the licence is no longer valid. However this is problematic given that the process for re-letting a pitch can take up to four weeks. It would take a couple of days for the Council to complete the process of re-letting the pitch but the whole process often takes longer because of logistical issues which the new trader may have. Often these problems are caused by the trader does not yet have the stock they need and more importantly because they do not have Public Liability Insurance in place.

  With these delays in mind, we recommend that the any licence holder wishing to surrender their licence should give at least four weeks notice.

  This will result in income for the pitch to carry on without any break.

    2. Section 36 states that any assistant employed by the said licensee is not held responsible if he/she fails to comply with the condition of licence therefore the only person responsible for non-compliance is the licensee. However, any one who is working for the licensee should also have a responsibility to comply with the terms of the license. Failure for any staff who works for the licensee to comply could mean the demise of the market. To avoid this and ensure that the license terms are properly complied with, we recommend that any assistant/s employed by the licensee should also be legally obligated to comply with the license.







 
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