FEARS have been expressed about the potential impact of a new district council licensing policy which could see small businesses and charities being charged between £6 and £18 a day to pitch a stall on any street in West Somerset. Cllr Mary Crowley called for a rethink on any proposal which would cost charities money, while Cllr Jess Griffith asked if the economic impact of the new charges had been considered. Members at Monday's meeting of West Somerset Council's cabinet agreed to consult the public on the policy - by placing a notice of intention to have a new policy in a local newspaper - and to ask officers to "consider" the concerns raised by councillors. Members of the public will have 28 days from the publication of the notice to have their say in writing to the authority. Cllr Crowley said it was wrong to offer charities a 50 per cent reduction on a daily £12.50 charge for stalls up to five metres square and on an £18 charge for stalls up to 7.5 metres square. Instead, she believed charities should be exempt from any charges, especially as some groups could have more than one stall in the district at any one time. Ian Timms, the council's environmental health and licensing team leader, said stalls on private land would not be affected by the proposed new policy. Only stalls sited on designated 'consent streets', namely every road, footway, beach or 'other' which the public had access to without payment, would be liable to pay a charge to the authority. The new street trading policy also included a raft of charges for the operators of food and drink vans, produce sellers and ice-cream vans. Annual charges ranged from £736 to £367 for a street trading consent, with other charges for those wanting to operate for either three or six months. But Cllr Jess Griffith had doubts about the scale of charges and the wording of parts of the policy. She said: "There needs to be more clarity in this policy. Do we fully understand the economic impact of this on the area? "Are we going to be curtailing economic activity simply to put money into the council's pockets?" Mr Timms refuted the suggestion and said the policy had already been fully debated by members of the licensing committee and worked on "for some time" by officers. "This policy will give the public reassurance that these people are trading with the consent of the council," Mr Timms said. Environment portfolio holder Cllr Ann Foxhuntley urged cabinet members to approve the policy subject to public consultation and added: "Officers will consider what has been said here."