Charitable Collections/High Street Activities

Charity Collections (House to House Collection Regulations 1947, 1963)

Police, Factories, etc (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916)

Charity collections taking place in public places especially on the public highway/footpaths require a permit/licence prior to the collection. Those on private property do not. Private property includes inside stations (rail/bus), private shopping areas (inside the Royals, Victoria Plaza), Southend Pier and also car parks belonging to Tesco, Sainsbury, etc. Those taking place on private property should contact the owners of the property to seek permission.

Sponsored walks where there is no collection along the route do not require permission. Organisers should be advised to contact the local police and let them know the event is taking place. If it is intended to collect along the route, a street collection permit is required.

There are two types of collection - House to House and Street. As much notice as possible is needed in order to allocate dates (some dates are booked a year in advance) and a minimum of 14 days is generally requested in order to generate paperwork.

House to House

Where the collector moves from premise to premise (including houses, pubs, shops, etc) a House to House Collections licence is required.

Street Collection Collections

Where the collector wants to collect on the High Street or any other public street within the Borough, a Street Collection permit is required. This includes sponsored walks if money is being collected along the route. There is no fee for a charity collection permit/licence.

If vehicular access to the pedestrian area of the High Street is required on the day of collection an application form will be sent to you once the collection has been approved.

All charity collection organisers are required to submit a Statement Form giving particulars of their collection, and will need to fill in an application form for vehicles to enter land belonging to the Council.

Street Trading

Anyone who wishes to trade within the designated controlled area must apply for consent. Please see related downloads to the right of this page for map of this area. However, Council Policy is that only charitable, social, not for profit organisations, etc will be given permission unless they are part of a Special Event (organised by Special Events Team). Newspapers and periodicals have an exemption depending on saturation levels, pitches are allocated. There is currently no fee for a consent.

Essex Act 1987

The Essex Act prohibits handing out of flyers which promote hotels, restaurants, any other place of refreshment, shops, theatres, or other places of amusement or recreation. Such activities are expressly forbidden within the designated (controlled) area. The Council cannot legally give consent to anybody wishing to carry out those types of promotion.

NB: Both the Police and Council Officers will report for prosecution any person found trading or carrying out non-permitted activity without a licence in the controlled area.

Busking

This is not a local authority function. The Vagrancy Act is enforced by the Police. You are advised to contact the Police for the area you wish to busk in the controlled area.

Pedlars Permits

These are issued by the Police and not Trading Standards (The Pedlars Act 1871). Contact the local police station for the area where you reside for further information.

NB: Pedlars Permits cannot be used as a reason to trade in the designated area and you will still be committing offences under the Essex Act if you do so.

Please note

On the right hand side there are Online Forms in order to apply for a permit.