Vendors selling food on private land in Wolverhampton will be forced to spend more than £1,100 a year on a council licence, as part of a controversial scheme announced today.

Currently vendors selling on land not owned by the council, such as industrial estates, do not have to have a street traders licence.

Many of the vendors already pay ground rent or site fees to trade from the private land. But council bosses say the new charges, which will affect vendors on 14 sites across the city, were now being introduced to “ensure the public is protected”.

Critics today branded the scheme “barmy”, claiming the charges could put people out of work.

The annual charge for a licence is £1,135 on privately-owned land, compared to £3,000 in the city centre.

Colin Parr, Wolverhampton City Council’s licensing manager, said: “What we are doing is ensuring consistency amongst all street traders and protect the public.

“We want to ensure that they are all properly managed food businesses, with regular inspections, that they are safe, that gas cylinders are stored in a properly contained manner and all other checks and balances are in place, in line with all other street traders.

“We are aware of 14 sites across the city that are on private land. We have met with some of them and they run fine businesses but this is all about making sure the public is protected.

“It is not a question of the traders being on private land. If people can access the land free of charge from a public highway, then they are still deemed to be street traders.”

Councillor Malcolm Gwinnett, chairman of Wolverhampton City Council’s planning committee, said today: “A few of the vendors have got in touch with me upset about this.

“I think it is absolutely barmy. I see it as a way of the council getting more money.

“It is hardly as if there is a lot of passing trade where they are situated and paying an extra £1,135 to the council each year is a lot of money. I can really see this scheme putting people out of work.”