Officials opposed to match day chip van
REFUSAL OF BID FOR PITCH NEAR KING POWER STADIUM RECOMMENDED
AN application to sell fish and chips neat the King Power Stadium on match days has been recommended for refusal by licensing officers.
Marius Velicu, of M&M Fish and Chips Cattering, wants to trade in Raw Dykes Road on days when Leicester City and Leicester Tigers are playing.
He said the van would “improve street food in the area” as there is currently “nothing similar” there. He expected demand would be high.
However, Leicester City Council officers have recommended the council refuses the application for a 12-month licence.
Council policy says application for mobile vans which remain stationary for short lengths of time – typically five minutes to attract customers and then as long as it takes to serve them – are usually looked favourably upon.
Permission might be granted for traders operating outside sports grounds if they are organised by the club to sell souvenirs.
Exceptions might also be made if the applicant intends to trade on an industrial estate which has no provision, or if the licence is for the duration of one specific event.
However, none of these conditions apply in this case.
One objection was received by the council from a business which said issuing permits for street traders in the area was impacting it financially.
The business also raised issues about road safety as there has been another food van trading in the road since 2019.
While the objector accepted the current trader has not had an impact on the flow of traffic or pedestrians in the road, it expressed concerns that adding another trailer to the street would start to cause problems.
The objector argued that as the seating capacity at the Leicester City stadium has not changed, there is not an increase of demand for food outlets.
Police, highways, noise control, and food teams did not raise any concerns about the application when consulted.
The licensing enforcement subcommittee will discuss the issue on Tuesday, before making a decision.