Pavement licences - local and national conditions

Local and national conditions for pavement cafe licences and pavement licences.

1. All furniture must be contained within the area edged red (known as the pavement café area) and shown on the plan annexed to the issued licence.

2. All furniture must be located as shown on the layout plan annexed to the pavement licence.

3. No changes shall be made to the pavement café area, including the location of furniture, without written permission from the Council.

4. Outside of the permitted hours all furniture must be removed from the pavement café area and must be stored securely off the highway and must not at any time block a fire exit.

The permitted hours are from 8am to 7pm Monday to Sunday (inclusive). During the permitted hours, the furniture shown on the layout plan may be placed on the pavement café area.

5. All furniture and the pavement café area must be cleaned regularly and food debris and other waste removed immediately.

6. A customer shall not be permitted to carry food and/or drink which has been sold or supplied inside the premises to the pavement café area. In such circumstances, the food and/or drink must be transferred from inside the premises to the pavement café area by a member of staff.

7. Suitable and sufficient barriers must be used, to prevent furniture from straying beyond the licensed area and to demark the pavement café area for the visually impaired.

8. Amplified music must not be provided in or projected to the pavement café area.

9. Television screens (including projectors) must not be provided in or adjacent to the pavement café area.

10. No works or alterations whatsoever must be made to the highway surface or highway infrastructure (including highway trees).

11. Where there is any damage to the highway surface and/or infrastructure, the Licence Holder shall within such period as the Council may specify restore the highway surface and/or infrastructure to its former state and condition to the satisfaction of the Council.

12. On a normal street there must be at least 1.8 metres (6 feet) of unobstructed space between the edge of the carriageway and the front of the pavement cafe area to allow pedestrians to pass by safely.

13. Each case will be judged on its merits and the unobstructed space will be set between 1.8 metres and 2.75 metres according to the frequency of pedestrian usage, as certain exceptions may apply to streets such as Fishergate for example.

14. In a pedestrianised area there must be at least 3.5 metres (12 feet) of unobstructed space in front of the pavement cafe area to allow pedestrians to pass by safely.

15. If the pavement café area is directly in front of the premises there must be at   least a 1.5 metres wide (5 feet) unobstructed corridor to the premises' entrance at all times.

16. If the pavement café area is directly outside the premises then a physical barrier of not less than 0.6 metres (2 feet) height must be provided to guide people with disabilities around the pavement café area. These barriers must not be permanently fixed to the ground or pavement and must be of a design agreed by the Council.

17.  The licence holder must -

a. Produce the pavement licence for inspection when so requested by an authorised officer of the Council or a police constable.

b. Comply with any instruction given in relation to the use of the highway by an authorised officer of the Council, an authorised officer of the Highway Authority or a police constable.

c. Throughout the term of the pavement licence indemnify the Council and its agents against all loses and claims for injuries (including death) or damage to any person or property whatsoever, and, against all claims, demands, proceedings, damages, costs, charges and expenses arising directly or indirectly from the placing and maintaining of furniture on the highway or their removal. For this purpose the licence holder shall obtain and maintain public liability insurance. The level of cover must be to a minimum value of £5,000,000 for any one incident.

d. Produce to the Council, on request, current receipts for premium payments and confirmation of annual renewals of the public liability insurance.

e. Remove the furniture during the permit hours for the purpose of -

i. Works in or under or over the highway or using it in connection with works in, under or over land adjacent to or adjoining it as may be required by the Council, the local highways authority or any statutory undertaker or other person authorised by the Council.

ii. Use of emergency services

iii. Any other reasonable cause.

18. The licence holder shall ensure that it follows up to date Government COVID-19 related guidance issued to businesses to ensure the safety of staff working and customers using the pavement café area.

19. The Council will not be liable for any loss of business or other disruption caused by third parties including private contractors or works by utility service companies or that may require the removal of furniture from the pavement café area on a temporary or permanent basis.

20.  Only well-designed proposals will be considered, where quality and consideration of the environment and its surroundings has been demonstrated.

National conditions

Smoke-free seating condition

The licence holder must make reasonable provision for seating where smoking is not permitted.

No obstruction condition

The licence-holder must ensure that anything done in pursuant to the pavement licence, or any activity of other persons which is enabled by the pavement licence, must not have an effect on the following:

(a) preventing traffic, other than vehicular traffic, from:

(i) entering the relevant highway at a place where such traffic could otherwise enter it (ignoring any pedestrian planning order or traffic order made in relation to the highway),

(ii) passing along the relevant highway, or

(iii) having normal access to premises adjoining the relevant highway

(b) preventing any use of vehicles which is permitted by a pedestrian planning order or which is not prohibited by a traffic order

(c) preventing statutory undertakers having access to any apparatus of theirs under, in, on or over the highway, or

(d) preventing the operator of an electronic communications code network having access to any electronic communications apparatus kept installed for the purposes of that network under, in, on or over the highway.