Agenda item

The purpose of the item was to determine an application under the Police, Factories etc. (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916 for a Street Collection Permit to permit a collection outside the terms of the Council’s policy.

The Chair introduced the members of the Sub Committee and the officers in attendance.

The applicant, Mr Rafferty for the Sidmouth Coastal Community Hub CIC, was present.

The Legal Advisor, Giles Salter, outlined the procedure to be followed.

The Licensing Manager, Phillippa Norsworthy, presented the report which outlined the application for multiple street collections across a number of dates on Saturdays between 7^th June and 27^th September 2025 to be held at Millennium Walk, Sidmouth.  A total of fifteen dates had been applied for, which was an increase of five collection dates from 2024.

It was noted that the applicant had submitted the required return for 2024.  One other non-related application for a street collection in Sidmouth town centre had been applied for since the report had been published.  This would not affect, or be affected by, the application under consideration.

There were no questions from Members or from the applicant for the Licensing Manager.

The applicant, Mr Rafferty, advised the Sub Committee that the primary reasons for the application were to raise awareness, provide information and gather support for the installation of a disabled ramp at Chit Rocks on Sidmouth beach.  The project was included as part of the larger beach management scheme for Sidmouth for economies of scale.

The application sought more collection dates than in 2024 as bad weather had meant that some collection dates had not gone ahead.  The current application took into account that some dates might also be lost in the coming year.

In response to questions from Members, the applicant advised that the organisers had been very pleased with the support they had received in 2024.  The multiple collection dates had kept the project in the public’s awareness.  The application had excluded the dates during Sidmouth Folk Week, however, the applicant was now minded to include 2^nd and 9^th August in the application.  The Sub Committee agreed to consider the additional dates as part of the application.

The Chair thanked the applicant for attending and advised that the Sub Committee would retire to make its decision which would be notified within five working days.

The applicant left the meeting.