Pavement Cafe Guidelines
Introduction
In many of our towns and villages there
is a desire to sit outside to enjoy the
environment and streetscape while having a meal or enjoying
a drink.
Pavement cafes facilitate this enjoyment, encouraging people
in our towns
and villages to interact and make the best of the County’s
unique assets.
These guidelines provide café owners with information
regarding the
placement of pavement cafes on the public highway in
Northumberland.
While focussed on pavement cafes, the guidelines can also be
applied by
shopkeepers to other display installations on the public
highway associated
with town centre trades, including outdoor displays of
greengrocery, flowers
and household goods.
The purpose of these guidelines is to
ensure that café and shop owners are
aware of their legal obligations to keep the public highway
clear of
obstruction and clear of litter, when providing a pavement
café or similar
installation.
It should be noted that the public highway is not defined as
simply the roads
on which cars and other traffic drive on. The public highway
includes
footpaths, pavements, market places, parking spaces and
verges.
The guidelines in this document apply to all parts of the
public highway,
although it should be noted that pavement cafes will only be
tolerated in
Northumberland on footpaths and traffic free market squares,
any facilities
that block roads and parking areas will normally attract
immediate
enforcement to remove the obstruction.
These guidelines replace the previously adopted Pavement
Café Policy and
Conditions that were adopted by the Council in 2007. The
requirement to
obtain a license for a new pavement café has been removed,
as has the
requirement to obtain planning permission.Existing licenses
will be allowed to
expire and will not be replaced. There are no longer any
fees payable to the
Council associated with establishing a pavement café, other
than if the café
owner chooses to receive advice on-site from the Council’s
officer.
The Council no longer requires cafes to have up to date
public liability
insurance prior to trading from the public highway, but this
insurance remains
strongly advisable in order to provide café owners with
cover should an
accident happen.
Advice and Contacts
There is no longer a need to obtain a license for a
pavement café in
Northumberland. However, officers of the Council are able to
provide advice
to café owners in order to assist in complying with these
guidelines.
Ad hoc advice by telephone and email will be provided free
of charge.
In working through proposals for a pavement café, the
Council strongly
recommends that neighbouring traders, businesses and
residents are
consulted and their views taken into account. This good
practice will assist in
reducing the risk of subsequent complaints to the café
owner, and requests
to the Council for enforcement action.
Café proprietors may wish to meet with Council officers to
discuss their
proposals on site and seek views on their pavement café
proposals. In such
circumstances officers may charge a fixed fee of no more
than £100 to
undertake up to 3 site visits per pavement café within a six
month period.
All discussions are offered without prejudice and no
liability will be accepted
by the Council.
You
can view the Pavement Guidelines by clicking here
Key contacts for the development of pavement café proposals
are as follows:
Pavement Café Layouts Dick
Phillips
01670 624146 dick.phillips@northumberland.gov.uk
Conservation Areas Sara Rushton
01670 622650 sara.rushton@northumberland.gov.uk
NEAT Team (North) Mark Naseby
01670 623462 mark.naseby@northumberland.gov.uk
NEAT Team (West) Keith Gray
01434 625577 keith.gray@northumberland.gov.uk
NEAT Team (South East) David
Jarvis
01670 620051 david.jarvis@northumberland.gov.uk
