Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Senior Licensing Officer.

Consideration was given to the report of the Senior Licensing Officer.

The Team Manager – Trading Standards and Licensing advised that the report sought to obtain the support of the Statutory Licensing Committee for the revised Gambling Act 2005 - Statement of Licensing Policy. The Team Manager added that the report had been presented to the Statutory Licensing Committee for consideration prior to being formally approved by full Council and advertised in a local newspaper before coming into effect on
31st January 2022.

The Team Manager added that the statutory consultation on the draft Policy had been undertaken between
3^rd September and 1^st October 2021 with six relevant licence holders under the Act which covered 12 licensed gambling premises consisting of three adult gaming centres and eight betting premises. It was noted that some licensees hold more than one licence. The consultation was also carried out between Responsible Authorities, Members and other relevant groups and organisations which included the Gambling Commission, HMRC, Gamcare. The Team Manager reported that only one response had been received and this was purely administrative to amend an address of an organisation.

The Team Manager noted the preferred option and referred Members to the Final Policy as detailed in Appendix 1.

The Chair invited questions from Members at this juncture.

A Member asked if there was a limit on the number of gambling outlets and it was reported that there was no policy in place to restrict the number of gambling establishments.

In response to a question raised in relation to amendments to the Policy, the Team Manager confirmed that there had been no representations, therefore the Policy remained unchanged.

A Member asked when was the date of the next review and it was informed that it would be in 3 years.

RESOLVED that the report be accepted and the Statutory Licensing Committee supported the reviewed

policy as attached to the report in Appendix 1 and recommends approval by the Council (option 1).