A couple's bid to run a coffee and crepe van in three locations in Cornwall has resulted in a win, a loss and a withdrawal.

Ailsa and David Dudley had applied to Cornwall Council for three separate street trading licences to operate their Coffee and Crepe Box in Lelant, Ruan Minor and Cockwells.

The three separate applications were considered by the council's street trading committee today and whilst councillors granted the licence for Lelant, they refused the application for Ruan Minor and the couple decided at the last minute to withdraw their application for Cockwells.

Mr Dudley explained to councillors that he and his wife moved to Cornwall in 2016 and had run a successful cafe in St Ives for five years.

He explained that as well as running the cafe the couple had been keen to help the local community and worked with the Salvation Army during lockdown to produce hundreds of meals for people.

Mr Dudley said that they hoped to run their Coffee and Crepe Box in locations around Cornwall to offer something different for customers. They already have one street trading licence to operate the crepe box from a location in Marazion.

He said: "It is a high-quality trailer we are working from with a high-quality service and high-quality produce."

The first application to operate from Church Lane in Lelant had attracted objections from St Ives Town Council and local Cornwall Councillor, and council leader, Linda Taylor.

Cllr Taylor was concerned that the trailer would take up parking spaces which might be used by walkers and for people visiting the nearby church.

She was also concerned about noise from the generator and that the applicants were looking to finish trading at 9pm.

Mr Dudley said that he would be willing to reduce the hours and would not be trading after dark and said that he had sourced a generator which was the "quietest on the market". He also said that he would not trade when there were weddings or other events at the church.

These concessions were welcomed by St Ives Town Council which had raised similar concerns to Cllr Taylor. As a result the committee agreed to grant the licence.

The second application was to operate The Coffee and Crepe Box from a layby on the A3083 opposite Lizard Point Holiday Park at Ruan Minor.

This application was objected to by Mullion Parish Council which was concerned about road safety.

Parish councillors were concerned that cars would stop in the area and that people might cross the road from the holiday park on foot and highlighted that the layby was on a road with a 60mph speed limit.

Mr Dudley said that there was already a kebab van which had operated from the layby for a number of years and said there had been no reported issues with safety.

He said that if there were any problems with safety once they started to run from the site then they would be willing to pull out. Highways officers had raised no concerns or objections to the application.

However, the committee agreed to refuse the application as they were concerned about road safety and the speed limit on the road.

The third application for a site on the A30 at Cockwells, near Penzance, was withdrawn by Mr and Mrs Dudley during the committee meeting.

Mr Dudley said that he and his wife had made the decision in "the last 30 minutes" and apologised to those who had been waiting to speak on the application.

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