Agenda item

The report of Linda Holland (Licensing Manager) asks that the Licensing Committee recommendthatofficerscarryout aconsultationofthe proposed Statement ofGamblingPrinciples before a finalised statement of Gambling Policy is present to full Council in October 2018.

 Linda Holland (Licensing Manager) referred to the report circulated with the Agenda which provided the Committee with information on the new proposed Statement of Gambling Principles.  Linda highlighted the following:

·            The Council’s Statement of Gambling Principles is to be reviewed every three years and be the subject of a consultation process.  The Statement (attached as Appendix 1 to the report) has been overhauled and re-written to make it more user friendly;

·            Once the draft Statement is approved by the Committee this document is then subject to an eight-week consultation process with the Police, persons representing gambling businesses and persons representing the interests of people likely to be affected by gambling;

·            There are currently 40 gambling premises in Wiltshire, which were mostly betting shops;

·            We are aware of concerns raised about the growing of gambling on line, but the Council have no power to address this, although we have also expressed concern to the local officer for the Gambling Commission.  We feel that this has a public health impact and that our revisions to the Statement address that;

·            Gambling premises are required to carry out a local area Risk Assessment to consider what other establishments or buildings e.g.: schools, churches, hospitals, social housing   other gambling premises are in the area and identify any likely risk and how it will be mitigated.

·            When Council Officers recently attending training arranged by the Gambling Commission they were surprised to hear that 118 authorities do not yet have a Gambling Policy in place;

·            The profile of gambling locally is very positive – gambling premises have been visited and reminded of their responsibilities and how they need to protect the most vulnerable;

·            There were two changes to the table of delegations (pages 148 and 149) – it was proposed that Officers can now give consideration for calling a review of a licence and for actions to be taken against illegal gambling.

Members asked the following questions:

Q     Are members of the public able to respond to the consultation?

A      They are not currently included in the list of statutory consultees, although there would be nothing to stop them from making comments, although the weight given to their views would be low.  They could make a representation as an interested party and they the views could be taken into account.

Q     Do you actively consult gambling support groups?

A      Details of the consultation process are published on our website and we can put a link on the website to useful contacts.

Q     Could you make plans to inform the gambling support groups that you are aware of the consultation?

A      Yes, we can agree to do this.

Members agreed that the revised Statement of Principles was well written and congratulated Officers on the amount of work carried out to prepare it.

Resolved:

1.          That the Licensing Committee agree the proposed Statement of Principles 2019-2021 and authorise Officers to carry out the 8-week consultation process.

2.          That Officers notify persons representing the interests of people likely to be affected by gambling of the consultation process.