Robert’s Rocquaine hedge veg was on States land
Wednesday 17th February 2010, 2:29PM GMT.
Robert Staples with the hedge veg stall that had to come off the sea wall and the notice telling him to contact the Environment Department. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0916880)
A HEDGE veg stall was removed from Rocquaine sea wall because trading is banned from States-managed land, Environment said yesterday.
Robert Staples’ stall, which was opposite his house for more than 15 years, was removed by the department, leaving it, he said, open to thieves.
A department spokesman said that under the Places of Recreation Act, no trade can take place on property to which the public has access for recreation. ‘The department often receives complaints about trade on States-managed land and those complaints frequently centre on the issue of cars and bikes for sale but do include other items,’ he said. ‘Most owners, when asked, comply with the department’s requirements.
‘However, it is not unusual for one offender to cite numerous others in their defence.
‘This leaves the department in the position of either operating a blind-eye, free-for-all policy or operating a fair and consistent policy.’
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What about his HUMAN RIGHTS !!!!
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Yet another case of bureaucratic pettiness on the island.
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Better take a look at the free for all second hand car lot on public land at South Side then.
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It’s a difficult one, obviously there must be rules, which must be adhered to. But ‘hedge veg’ is one of the defining characteristics of our island. Perhaps they could put as much effort into removing the ‘cars and bikes’ for sale.
@DA DO, are you joking? I’m not sure, very funny if you are.
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What about ice cream vans in car parks then…
I agree heg veg is a practice that is local and good for supporting home grown. This is a silly exercise in paperwork.
If they do this one are they proposing to go around the island doing all the others, I hope that they see sense and that this practice is not in the same class (abuse) as car sales as mentioned above and that a clause could be amended to be more specific about trading and trading types permitted or otherwise not permitted.
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Gotta love the States, why after 15 years?
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I thought the fascists left in 1945…evidently not!
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Hi all.
Stapes. I really feel sorry for you. This is a crazy ruling undermining a service which you have worked hard at providing for your loyal customers for many, many years!
I for one would like to thank you for this and hope you can continue the best you can.
Youve got my support and no doubt loads of others as well.
Dont let the b*****ds grind you down.
Wouldnt it be nice if the complainants details were posted here!
Rocky resident,
GD.
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So according to the logic of the posters on here I should be able to put up a box and sell vegetables on States land wherever I want?
Just because the wall is opposite his house it doesn’t give him any more right to put it there than anyone else living in Guernsey. If you think it does, how about if the residents of the flats at Admiral Park put up boxes on the sea wall opposite? It’s the same principal and 30 or 40 boxes there would look pretty good eh?
In fact all of those people who legitimately sell hedge veg from their property should really move their box to somewhere with the highest level of passing trade, as long as it’s on States land what’s the problem??
It’s amazing how some of the posters on this site jump on any bandwagon that appears in the Press without giving it any real thought. Quite how this even made it into the paper is beyond me.
And Guern abroad, Ice Cream Vans need to apply for a permit to sell there.
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I wonder if the likes of GG, GsyDonkee and Gsy Man would have the same opinion if it were a non local putting their hedge veg box on the sea wall?
Discuss….
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Yes George you are right about the ice cream vans but what about all the vehicals put up for sale on states land and public roads no difference.
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@John…Absolutely, the States needs to crack down on them too.
People like Mr. Staples seem to think they have an entitlement to do something that they shouldn’t just because they’ve got away with it for a long time.
If you don’t own or lease the land or have a permit you don’t have any right to sell stuff from it, full stop.
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I like the law they have in Portugal where no one is allowed to put a “for sale” notice on any car even if it is parked in a Garage forcourt. the reasons (one mainly involving safety) are obvious.
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I particularly like the “home grown” fruit at the side of the road which includes oranges and lemons (recently seen!). Do these people pay income tax on the stuff they sell, or not – I wonder. The old way of selling a couple of pounds of toms, or a bit of old calabrese has given way to quite a lucrative way of making a bit of cash it seems to me.
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The selling of produce by the roadside is one of Guernsey’s many attractions and should be allowed to continue.
However, there should be some ground rules:
1. Only products grown/made by the stall holder should be allowed.
2. The weight of produce in the bag/punnet/etc should be shown.
3. The stall location should not present a hazard to road users.
I strongly object to the sale of imported produce.
It would seem to be fairer if stallholders could only set up on their own land, but I guess the problems of rented houses/greenhouses/land would rear its legal head.
Ice cream vans etc. pay considerable sums for their plot and I suspect that Environment would accept other sales pitches if a rent was paid.
I understand that the larger, more permanent stallholders are challenged for Income Tax.
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OK fair comments so can we see people stop selling stuff at lancrease as this is states land – i refuse to stop if the have lemons etc as it make me wonder how “local” the rest of the stuff is
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Roy,
Sounds a glorious new ‘Hedge Veg (Guernsey) Law’ in the making!
‘Wherein the vegetables, fruit or flowers (The Produce) contained have been grown and processed on land owned by the Stallholder, the weight of said Produce being indicated clearly in metric units, or in other units when combined with a suitable conversion chart clearly displayed; and are sold on said land within 6 metres of a Hedge, said Hedge being an approved botanical category and of minimum dimensions as defined in section 4 above; the stall, table, cupboard or other structure on which the Produce rests being of generally tatty and insubstantial construction in accordance with such regulations as may be laid down by ordinance of the Hedge Veg Council’ blah blah ad nauseam…
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Sarnia Expat, fyi, lemons can and are locally grown. A lot of them. Not sure about oranges, tho.
…and everyone else, shhhh! If the OUR hears about this, they’ll be on it like a rat up a drainpipe…
must fly, my little tin money box is full to overflowing with 10p’s, and I’m planning to use it for the first down payment on my Sunseeker…
by my reckoning, with the huge amount of cash I’m (supposedly) making, I should have it paid off sometime within the next 1000 years or so. Woohoo!
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Hi Scarlett, thanks for the horticultural lesson.
My point is that hedge veg stalls were originally put up just to sell the odd pound or two of surplus toms etc. It now seems that one can set up shop outside their house (provided that it is not a States House, obviously, or on States owned land) without the usual constraints that the rest of the community have to observe…. and sell whatever they like, presumably without paying taxes on the sold goods. Perhaps I am wrong in this? If I sell my stuff at the WI for example, I should be keeping a record of what is sold to provide Mr Taxman with his cut. It is all very petty I know – but this guy somehow feels aggrieved – why? He has had 15 years in which to get his “shop” in order.
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Probably the only thing we’ll ever agree on Roy Bisson, completely agree with you! The only problem I have is why didn’t they give a notice or warning some 15 years ago?
@Auntie GP, if it were a non-local putting produce out, I couldn’t careless, have you been to any of the supermarkets over here, non-locals galore!
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In the case of the “car lot” at St Sampsons, I suppose the sellers could argue that as long as the “trade” takes place on private land there’s no problem.
Otherwise technically you couldn’t have a “for sale” sign on a car that you were driving on public roads either, even if you parked it in your driveway.
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Speaking as a former Procureur, Constable & Douzainier of Bob’s Parish, (but NOT representing anybody else’s views these days, since I left Guernsey many years ago)… the population of beaurocratic jobsworths & busybodies seems to be increasing at a rate of knots – be they neighbours, civil servants, passers-by or whatever.
Other than that – words fail me.
JG, Devon
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Steady on here… something that is eluded to but not clear in the article is that the States asked him to remove it “Most owners, when asked, comply with the department’s requirements.
‘However, it is not unusual for one offender to cite numerous others in their defence.” etc. So if he was given fair warning to remove it but didn’t comply, then the States were surely within their rights to remove it.
Just because you’ve done something for 15 years, doesn’t by course making it OK.
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I wonder where Mayside are going to be able to move all their bring banks to?
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