Issue - meetings

(Report of the Director of Place and Sustainability – To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for the Environment): To respond to the review undertaken by Overview and Scrutiny on the Clustering of Betting shops.  

Cabinet received a report that presented the proposed responses to recommendations arising from the Scrutiny Review on the Clustering of Betting Shops.

It was noted that at present the Gambling Act (2005) did not allow the Licensing Authority to take into consideration whether there were already a significant number of betting shops in any one area or their cumulative impact.   

The Council recognised the concerns of residents with respect to this and had lobbied the Government and mounted a legal challenge contending that the Council should be able to take the impact of the clustering of betting shops into account when granting a licences; however, this had been unsuccessful.

The Cabinet Member for the Environment expressed her thanks to the Members that had sat on the panel and commended the proposed recommendations and actions set out in the report.  

RESOLVED:

That the scrutiny report and recommendations and proposed actions set out in Appendix 1 of the report be agreed.