Meeting documents

The Committee considered the report on the Gambling Act 2005 Policy Review and noted that the Act had taken over some aspects of gambling in 2006.  The Gambling Commission was the ruling body and applications had to be made to them to obtain an Operator’s Licence before a premises licence could be applied for.  It was noted that Wycombe District Council (WDC) notified the Gambling Commission of any new premises licence applications that were received and the Licensing Unit submitted an annual return to the Commission.  The Committee noted that the Gambling Act 2005 had three objectives which underpinned the licensing regime –

1.    Preventing gambling from being a source of crime and disorder; being associated with crime and disorder or being used to support crime;

2.    Ensuring that gambling is carried out in a fair and open way;

3.    Protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

These objectives were different to the Licensing Act objectives and were narrow objectives so were problematic for valid objections. 

In terms of premises licence applications relevant  Responsible Authorities were notified to have the opportunity to object if necessary, namely –

·         The Licensing Authority in whose area the premises is wholly/partly situated

·         The Gambling Commission

·         The Chief Officer of Police

·         The Fire and Rescue Authority

·         The Local Planning Authority

·         An authority which has functions in relation to pollution to the environment or harm to human health

·         Anybody, designated in writing by the Licensing Authority as competent to advise about the protection of children from harm

·         HM Revenue and Customs

Wycombe District currently had 20 betting shops, one adult gaming centre and one bingo hall operating in the Wycombe town centre. There were 110 current Lotteries permits in operation, 77 pubs who had automatic entitlement to 2 gambling machines and 9 pubs who had entitlement to more than two machines.  There were two types of Gambling Notices – an OUN (Occasional Use Notice) which was issued annually to Kimble Races and a TUN (Temporary Use Notice) although, to date, none of these had been issued. 

The Committee noted that the Gambling Policy needed to be reviewed every 3 years and as the last review was three years ago, it was time to do so.  The Committee noted the minor amendments in red in the report as a result of legislative changes.  They also noted that once approved by them, there would be a 12 week consultation period after which time it would be presented to this Committee again to look at and debate any comments made to the consultation before then being presented to full Council for approval.  Legally, the paper needed to be published before the end of the year. 

In answer to questions from Committee Members the following points were raised –

·         Under the heading ‘Background to the Area’ that ‘University College’ be amended to read ‘University’.

·         Under the heading ‘Background to the Area’ that wording be amended to read "one large shopping centre" rather than two as quoted.

The Committee agreed to the consultation period although requested that it be circulated in a week’s time due to the fact that the paper version of the committee report did not show all of the track changes, unlike the electronic version which was provided on ModernGov This gave the Committee time to make any comments to the Licensing Unit before the document was sent out.

          RESOLVED: that the report be sent for consultation a week following this meeting to give Committee Members time to comment if necessary.