On the subject of A Boards. There might be some small print where a shop/business can display them IF they pay some sort of rental or extra rates, this apparently makes them safe. Relative of mine opened up a cafe some years ago down Story Street in the city centre. New business, the empty building hadn't been a cafe before, so if you didn't walk past the door everyday you would not know it was there. He fastened a small, smart, poster to a railing at the top of the street just informing people that the cafe was 50 yards further down. The council were down within hours threatening all sorts of legal action if it wasn't removed. Meanwhile a councillor opened up a cafe down High Street in similar circumstances, the building had not been a cafe before etc etc. So the council paid for and fastened signposts pointing to the cafe in prominent positions around the old town. My relative's cafe went bust and he lost all his money in the project. The building remains empty today.
You just need to apply for planning consent to use one and get Council approval on its position, it's actually all clearly explained on the HCC website. Presumably they'll apply now, but it would have been better to do it in advance, they tend to be a bit awkward with these things once they've been subject to enforcement.
In the East Riding there is a similar problem with A boards. The council want to charge business owners for displaying them. The argument seems to be the council think A boards are a health @ safety problem, but if you pay to display them the H@S problem disappears?
ER. Small independent coffee shop I occasionally visit had a small, simple bench on the wide pavement under it's front window. Maybe a foot deep at most, enough for 2 or 3 people to plonk themselves down for a few minutes. Been there ages. It's only a small cafe. People would get their coffee and sit outside on the bench if it was a nice day or the cafe was full. Absolutely no problem to anyone. I overhead the owner saying how the council told him to remove it immediately and that he would have to pay several hundred pounds (think it was £300 ball park) if he wanted to put it back out. I get that it can't be a free for all and there has to be some boundaries, but things like this are absolute madness. Let's do all we can to discourage small local businesses. As I keep saying, this country is ****ed, for all sorts of reasons.
A boards are part of street culture, a very simple way to entice customers with well written, creative offers and specials, they should be encouraged not taxed.
ERYCC have a licensing system, you pay £25 to apply, someone will come to your premises, discuss where you want to site it, what size it can be and what it will say on it. Then if it's accepted, there's another £25 to join the scheme, which confirms your permission and provides you with a license to go in your window to say you're allowed to display it (it's reviewed annually). I don't think either system is particularly unreasonable.
A pavement license is £500 for the first year, then £350 for each time it's renewed (normally every two years). It's only really worth having outside seating if you've got a significant amount of it and you need to have space to store it all outside of trading hours.
A part of the problem relates to issues they can create for the less able bodied, blind people etc. Some people are quite thoughtless when they position these things.
One simple bench. Tucked under a window against the wall. 12 inches deep, maybe 4 foot long at the most. Bonkers. WTF has happened to common sense.
Good point, that’s why A boards on pavements create problems - Council have a duty to consider the needs of people with disabilities, it’s not something they can turn a blind eye to. Enforcement of A boards on pedestrianised streets is typically down to maintaining access for emergency vehicles. No idea if that applies to the specific cases quoted here though.
I was sat on almost that very thing outside a pub on Saturday. They were hinged, so they could be folded back when not needed.
In one!@!@!!@ Though fully understand the difficulties for those impaired.... (and mobile phone users)
