Agenda item

The Environmental Health Team Manager presented the report to the Committee.

Under The Gambling Act 2005 (the ‘Act’), the Council was responsible for issuing premises licences for casinos, bingo halls, betting offices, adult gaming centres and licensed family entertainment centres as well as permits for gaming machines in pubs, clubs and other alcohol licensed premises.

The Act contained three licensing objectives:

·       prevent gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder, or being used to support crime;

·       ensure gambling was conducted in a fair and open way; and,

·       protect children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

The Act imposed a statutory requirement upon the Council to prepare a Statement of Principles (alternatively referred to as a ‘Policy’).  This was the Council’s tool in regulating gambling and it established a set of controls which the Council considered appropriate for the effective management of gambling activities within the District.

The Policy acted as a guide for Members, applicants, responsible authorities, and members of the public.  It aimed to promote fair, consistent, and proportionate decision making.

The Act required the Council to review and publish its Policy every 3 years.  The Council was required to publish its revised Policy at least 4 weeks before the Policy expired.

The current Policy, together with a Local Area Profile (the ‘Profile’), came into effect 15^th February 2023.  To meet the requirements of the legislation the Council had to approve an updated Statement of Principles.

The Joint Environmental Health Service, shared with North East Derbyshire District Council, had conducted a review of the existing Policy and identified a number of changes required.  The draft proposals aimed to achieve the following:

·       Modify the format of the Policy to ensure it remained cohesive and consistent with that of neighbouring local authorities (due to the extensive changes made to the Policy’s formatting, a copy with tracked changes was not included – it was found to be illegible);

·       Ensure the Policy was consistent with legislation and statutory guidance;

·       Increase the clarity of the Policy;

·       Update local demographics; and,

·       Provide clarity on delegations.

The fundamental principles of the Policy remained the same, but upon review it was felt the Policy would benefit from being restructured and reformatted, with some of the content clarified.

As part of the review, research had been conducted to establish if there were any emerging trends or areas of concern in the District that needed to be addressed in the Policy.

The current Policy and Profile were attached at Appendices 1 and 2.  The revised draft Policy and Profile were attached at Appendices 3 and 4.  An equality impact assessment had been carried out and a draft copy was attached at Appendix 5.

On 8^th April 2025, the revised draft Policy was reviewed by the Climate Change and Communities Scrutiny Committee.  The Committee reviewed the revised draft Statement

of Principles and noted the intention to carry out a public consultation before presenting a final draft to the Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee and Council.  The Climate Change and Communities Scrutiny Committee had added no further comments regarding the content of the Policy, but requested that public awareness campaigns be conducted through social media to raise awareness of gambling requirements and gambling related harm.

To a question on if Bolsover TV might be utilised for raising awareness, the Environmental Health Team Manager informed it could be used along with the Council’s social media.

Following approval of the Committee, a 12-week public consultation would be carried out.  Once concluded, the results of which would be presented to the Committee for consideration before a final draft was recommended to Council for adoption.

The Environmental Health Team Manager guided the Committee through the summary of findings and the conclusions from the review.  The findings were detailed in the report.

It was noted gambling related complaints were low – likely due to few gambling premises operating in the District.

The review showed there were no locally identified issues regarding gambling related crime and harm in the District.  However, it was acknowledged that gambling related harm was a national issue – the Council could make a positive contribution to the reduction of gambling related harm by possessing a clear and cohesive Policy, together with a Profile which aimed to increase awareness of local risks.

To a question on if messages were presented on / near gambling machines which promoted safer gambling, the Environmental Health Team Manager there were very specific rules for gambling premises on what was expected of them to reduce gambling related harm and to raise awareness.

It was noted that gambling premises needed authorisation from both the Council (a premises licence) and the Gambling Commission (an operating licence) before any business could be conducted.  The Gambling Commission had strict rules in place for advertising gambling and raising awareness.

The recommendations were listed in the report and Members were asked to consider the revised draft Policy before the Council conducted the 12-week consultation.

Questions were raised on how one would apply for certain premises licences and the costs involved, and on the specific categories of gaming machines.

It was stated licence applicants could contact the Joint Environmental Health Service to ask any questions.

It was noted the changes made in the draft Policy were appropriate.

A handful of typographical errors and out of date references to certain individuals were highlighted in Appendix 3 – the Environmental Health Team Manager welcomed any corrections required in the draft document before publishing.

Moved by Councillor Mary Dooley and seconded by Councillor David Bennett

RESOLVED that: 1) The Committee approves the revised draft Statement of Principles under the Gambling Act 2005 for public consultation; and,

2)    The Committee requires the Joint Assistant Director of Environmental Health to conduct a 12 week public consultation in line with statutory requirements and report the findings back to the Committee for consideration at a later date.