The Task Group Chair will give a verbal update on progress with the review of the impact of betting shops on local communities within Leicester.
Minutes:
The Chair of the Task Group reported verbally that:-
· Two meetings of the Task Group had been held to date;
· The Assistant City Mayor – Jobs and Skills had welcomed the proposals for this review and had suggested that its findings be used to contribute to the local area profiles currently being prepared;
· The Task Group had met Dr Heather Wardle of Geofutures and felt that her work would be very useful to the review;
· Representatives of the Association of British Bookmakers had attended the Task Group’s second meeting;
· It was recognised that not all Members were able to attend meetings of the Task Group, but the involvement of more Members would be welcome; and
· The next meeting of the Task Group would be held at 11.00 am on Thursday 14 January 2016 in Room 3.12 at City Hall.
The Scrutiny Policy Officer advised the Commission that a report of the findings of the review was being drafted. This included reference to:-
a) Work done by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Council to try and use the planning framework to restrict the number of betting shops in its area. This had been unsuccessful, largely due to pressure from the betting industry;
b) A consultation carried out by the Islington London Borough Council on creating a Special Planning Document. This included a lot of supporting evidence of the impact of gambling on vulnerable communities and the issue of community health; and
c) Consideration of whether the licensing of gambling establishments could be addressed through the Local Plan that was currently being prepared.
The Commission noted that anecdotal evidence suggested that employees of betting shops were encouraged by their employers to identify properties in built up areas that could be used as betting shops. Anyone willing to provide evidence for the Task Group on this matter was invited to contact the Scrutiny Policy Officer.
Members noted that the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) had produced a framework for local partnerships on betting shops and it was suggested that the link to the website should be circulated.
The Scrutiny Policy Officer further advised that there was anecdotal evidence that gambling was a problem, but evidence of this had not been collated. One possible recommendation that could arise from this review therefore was that support groups could be asked to gather evidence, possibly with the Supporting Tenants and Residents group undertaking a trial of this.
Concern was raised that betting shops liked to locate near each other due to the limit on the number of betting machines that could be put in one shop. Clustering meant that income from these machines could be maximised.
Members were reminded that the Council supported the Local Government Association’s recommendation to reduce the maximum bet on fixed odds betting machines to £2.00.
It was hoped that the next meeting of the Task Group would be attended by representatives of support groups for gamblers. A meeting also had been arranged for February, which it was hoped would be attended by representatives of the Social Welfare Advice Partnership. It was hoped that the final report of the review would be presented to the Commission in March 2016.
AGREED:
1) That the Scrutiny Policy Officer be asked to circulate the link to the Local Government Association and Association of British Bookmakers framework for local partnerships on betting shops to all members of this Commission;
2) That the Scrutiny Policy Officer be asked to circulate details of future meetings of this Task Group, and information associated with this review, to all members of this Commission;
3) That any members of this Commission interested in attending future meetings of this Task Group be invited to do so; and
4) That Members unable to attend meetings of the Task Group be invited to pass any comments to the Scrutiny Policy Officer for inclusion in the Task Group’s discussions.