The Saturday stalls permit scheme is designed for charities and organisations promoting a wide range of humanitarian, benevolent and philanthropic causes.

Permits are available to such groups wanting to set up stalls and collect money in the city centre on Saturdays.

For all other Saturday street trading, please refer to our street trading page.

To check for availability and to see who's collecting, please refer to our calendar.

Apply

• Download and complete the application form [RTF, 0.2MB].
• Applications must be made at least one calendar month before the proposed collection.
• There is no cost involved.
• View the Saturday Stall booklet and map [PDF, 0.2MB]

Please return the completed form to:

Business Processing Team
Cambridge City Council
PO Box 700
Cambridge
CB1 0JH

Permit regulations

Permits cannot be transferred or exchanged. If a group has a permit that they are unable to use, they must return it to us as soon as possible.

In very exceptional cases, a group might be refused a permit if there is good cause to believe that their presence or their activities might lead to a breach of the peace or involve a criminal offence.

The street collection regulations also apply to Saturday stalls. Additional permit regulations are as follows:

Allocating pitches

• So far as possible, all applications from eligible groups will be granted and will receive the pitch of their choice for a period of three months
• Where more than one applicant requests the same pitch and time, preference will be given to the applicant who has used that location most often in the last twelve months
• When issuing permits, no account will be taken of the political disposition of the group.

Stalls

• Stalls should be approximately two metres by one metre in size
• Space can be taken up at the rear of the stall to produce a backdrop for people operating the stall to stand
• Stalls should be neat, tidy and attractively laid out
• Stalls should be simple and makeshift in design giving the appearance of temporary structures
• Stalls must not present a safety hazard to pedestrians or operators
• Obstruction of the pavement, and street furniture must be avoided - like bicycle racks or seats
• Although two stalls are permitted within 25 metres distance of each other, no two people can be accepting money at a stall at the same time.

Litter

• Operators must ensure that the area occupied by the stall and its immediate vicinity is kept free from litter
• They must collect and dispose of all discarded leaflets properly at the end of the session.

Disturbance

• Operators must ensure that their conduct does not cause a nuisance or disturbance to others - eg by the playing of loud amplified music or heckling the public.

Content of displays

• Displays must comply with legal requirements regarding obscenity and should not give rise to offence to the public - eg graphic illustrations of cruelty to animals. Should there be any complaints, officers will endeavour to deal with them on an informal basis.

Seals

• Seals need not be elaborate. For example, adhesive paper can be used so long as the container cannot be opened without tearing the paper.

Returns

All the regulations surrounding returns for street collections also apply for Saturday stalls and must be complied with.

Additional guidelines for returns:

• we allow reasonable expenses to be reimbursed to collectors
• the regulations surrounding returns are not concerned with paying suppliers for goods sold at stalls
• although each Saturday is considered as a separate collection the returns forms are designed to allow for the proceeds of up to 14 collections to be entered on each form
• we are willing to consider allowing a delay in making a return for any collection until one month after the last collection in any given quarter
• if the total proceeds of the collection do not exceed £100 then we are willing to consider waiving the requirement that returns be certified by a qualified accountant.

Download and complete a returns form [RTF, 0.2MB].