High Court to hold expedited hearing of legal challenge over street trading policy in Birmingham

HHJ Cooke (sitting as deputy) granted permission for an expedited hearing of the challenge scheduled for 1 and a half days.

Sarah Sackman and Conor Fegan of Francis Taylor Building represent the claimants, instructed by Dan Rosenberg of Simpson Millar. Leo Charalambides previously advised the Birmingham Street Traders Association in connection with this policy.

FTB said: “The policy is designed to improve the consumer offer and environment of street trading in the city centre. To obtain a consent, which traders must reapply for annually, applications will be assessed on, amongst other things, how ‘innovative’ the products traders propose to sell will be. The policy defines ‘innovative’ as whether the product is readily available in the High Street market place.

“The claimants, whose families have operated as street traders in Birmingham for several generations, contend that the ‘innovative products’ criterion is uncertain, anti-competitive and in breach of the Provision of Services Regulations 2009.”

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: “We will robustly defend our position against any challenge but given the start of this legal process, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”