Street Trading
What is street trading?
You will need a street trading consent if you are planning to sell or offer for sale any goods/articles on a street* within the Council's defined area.
* The definition of 'street' includes: a road, footway, beach, an area where you can go without paying, such as village greens, parks, or private properties such as school playgrounds, churchyards and supermarket car parks or other car parks. If you charge a fee to enter a trading area, then this is not street trading.
Almost every area/street in Three Rivers District requires consent to trade there. There are some areas/streets in Three Rivers District where trading is prohibited and any application for a street trading consent for any of these streets will be refused.
A list of the prohibited streets can be found in the Street Trading Policy, which can be downloaded here: Street Trading Policy 2022 (pdf)
Trading in a consent street without consent, or in a prohibited street, is a criminal offence, and if convicted you could be fined up to £1,000 per offence.
- static consent - trading from a fixed position (e.g. stall, burger van)
- mobile consent - trading from a vehicle at multiple locations (e.g. ice-cream van)
Mobile Street Trading Consent application form (pdf)
Static Street Trading Consent application form (pdf)
Blanket Street Trading Consent application form (for large events) (pdf)
The completed application form must be emailed to licensing.team@threerivers.gov.uk along with all the relevant supporting documents, as listed on the application form. Payment of application fee must be made at the time of submission, by calling customer services on 01923 776611.
Failure to submit a fully completed application form, or any of the required documents or the fee will invalidate the application and result in officers not being able to process it.
Once validated, the application will be sent for consultation to local bodies who may be affected by your proposals, including the police, the highways authority, environmental health officers, and local town or parish councils. This consultation period lasts for 28 days.
Consents once granted are issued for a maximum of 12 months and are subject to the conditions listed in the Policy.
Consent holders must apply to renew their consent a minimum of 4 weeks before it expires. If a consent expires all rights associated with the previous consent expire too, and a new application will need to be submitted.
The application forms are found under the previous heading 'Applying for consent'.
Contact us
For more information on street trading, please email licensing.team@threerivers.gov.uk or call 01923 776611 and ask for Licensing.