COMING hard on the heels of substantial increases in the cost of a licence for outdoor seating, city traders must be dismayed today to learn of new plans to force them to obtain licences to put display items outside their premises.
It is understandable that the council should seek to restrict the amount of street clutter – not just from a health and safety point of view but in areas of historical importance which attract abnormally high numbers of visitors.
But over-regulati
on, which is already strangling many businesses like street cafes, is dangerous and talk of licences being required for items like pot plants and even promotional items is perhaps one step too far.
As long as they are not causing an obstruction to walkers and road users colourful or eye catching items can often actually improve the street landscape rather that detract from it.
Only last week the Evening News revealed the same council which claims to be in favour of encouraging a more cosmopolitan feel in the city by extending the hours that cafe owners can provide outdoor seating, is planning to increase the charges for doing so by up to 700 per cent.
It claims it is only covering rising costs in handling an increasing number of applications.
But no wonder costs are going up if the number of and complexity of the rules is also increasing. It is understandably difficult for many bar and cafe owners to see how the cosmopolitan nirvana can be achieved if the outcome of these outrageous increases is fewer applications and subsequently less outdoor seating than ever before.
As with the monitoring of street cafes it has to be assumed that the administration and policing of such a scheme will also incur expenditure and that the cost of this will be passed on to the business, presumably at a charge that will prove prohibitive to many.
The more cynical might be entitled to think that as with parking charges these schemes are now being operated purely as a money-making exercise by a cash-strapped council determined to wring every penny out of us.
But what the council is failing to take into account is that small businesses – which are also council taxpayers – are the lifeblood of many communities and they need to advertise their wares in order to survive. In streets where trade is already suffering because of tram works such measures could be the straw that breaks many backs.
But if the aim is make life as difficult as possible, heavy handed over-regulation is the way to go about it.
The full article contains 443 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
