Tourism chief backs BAKKA and more mobile vans in Lerwick
SHETLAND Tourism Association chairwoman Amanda Hawick said if 20 mobile vans applied to sell goods at the street in Lerwick she would approve every single one.
That is because, according to her, there are not enough shops and restaurants on the street to cope with the increasing footfall coming from visiting cruise ships.
With hundreds of thousands of people visiting Shetland during the summer, Hawick said: “There’s plenty of money for everybody to make”.
She was speaking as Lerwick Community Council (LCC) considered a planning application from the BAKKA knitwear company to site its mobile van at Burns Walk more frequently.
The application has already received a number of objections, including from Living Lerwick and town vendors such as R.A.M. Knitwear and Loose Ends.
Lerwick Community Council considered at its Monday meeting whether or not to add its voice to those objections, with owner Dr Mary Macgregor in attendance to answer questions about the application.
Hawick, attending the meeting as a community councillor, was firmly in favour.
She said there could be quadruple the amount of mobile vans on the street currently selling goods, and they would still make money during the summer.
“Twenty applications could come in for mobile vans, and I would approve them all, whether people like it or not,” she added.
LCC chairman Jim Anderson said his “slight concern” would be about shop owners paying higher rates, who could possibly lose business as a result.
But Hawick said some people could not afford to lease shop space, adding: “That’s why mobile vans are coming”.
She said it was “frustrating” as a tourism operator to have “only five restaurants in Lerwick” to recommend to visitors to eat at.
Community councillor Diana Winfield suggested that, with concerns being raised about BAKKA selling similar goods to nearby shops more frequently, they ask for more information about the application.
Hawick however said that she did not think the LCC needed to do that.
“It’s one woman in a van selling her wares,” she added.
Macgregor told the meeting that she had applied for a planning permission because she wanted to extend the number of days she could sell from Burns Walk.
Lerwick Community Council decided to offer no objections to the application.
Town centre organisation Living Lerwick has objected, however, on the grounds that it says it is a “further infringement on the trading environment for established businesses”.
It said street traders should not engage in trading within 50 metres of establishments of the same or similar class and said three premises were within 50 metres of Burns Walk selling similar products to BAKKA.
Commercial Street shop R.A.M. Knitwear also objected, saying its primary concern was that it would create an “uneven trading environment”.
“We believe that a permanent retail presence operating from a mobile van is not in keeping with the appearance and character of Lerwick’s town centre,” it said.
“We are deeply troubled about the precedent that approval of this application could establish.”
LHD Marine Supplies and Loose Ends also objected, while Specsavers offered no objection.
Macgregor had her street traders’ licence renewed in late April after receiving the backing of local councillors.
Shetland Islands Council’s environmental health department had objected to BAKKA getting a renewed licence to sell goods from two sites in the centre of Lerwick, due to concerns about shops selling a similar class of items nearby.
Elected members on the SIC’s licensing committee heard that there had been no objections raised by local businesses – with the majority of councillors happy to approve the application.
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