OXFORD City Council needed to overhaul its street trading licence rules but it is questionable why it has opened up every street as a potential pitch.

We have often reported about the problem of suburban streets being turned effectively into car sales yards by unscrupulous traders.

The council is quite right to put in place the ability to control — or preferably block — this activity.

But why was it felt that historic areas could be put on a schedule that allows traders to pitch up there?

And, more disturbingly, we have discovered that under this plan an unelected official rather than a democratically accountable councillor could approve a kebab van outside the Radcliffe Camera, for example, for up to three months.

No doubt the council will say this is unlikely to happen and that we should trust it.

But if it is such an unlikely event, why then did it feel the need to open up EVERY street as one that is potentially up for grabs?

Why not cut down the number of prohibited streets to protect just those many of us feel are sensitive sites?

Would that really derail the overall aim of a stronger and more transparent licensing scheme? Unlikely.

The problem is that whatever assurances about political will we may get today, the council has opened up the possibility of a free-for-all in the future.

It means there is the potential that successors to the current crop of officers and councillors may feel far more emboldened to approve licences by the fact that the door of opportunity has been left ajar.

We would urge the full council meeting to amend this plan and reinforce the important point that not everything has a price on it.