Gambling Policy - Revised Statement of Principles

We asked

We asked for your views on the revised Gambling Statement of Principles, which The Gambling Act 2005 requires the Council to review and publish every three years.

You said

A total of 16 responses were received.

The analysis of the responses indicated that 54% of the respondents thought positively about the introduction of a more detailed Local Area Profile and gambling vulnerability zones within the draft Gambling Statement of Principles. 38% were not in favour of any Gambling being carried out in the borough and 8% neither agreed nor disagreed with the content of the same document.

Of the 38% of respondents who were not in favour of the draft Gambling Statement of Principles the respondents either did not wish for any Gambling taking place in Barnet or sought for the Licensing Authority to restrict the number of licensed premises being granted.

The Gambling Act 2005 does not give the Licensing Authority the ability to restrict the number of licensed premises opening in a particular area. We believe that the additions to the Local Area Plan will go some way to ensuring that any licences granted, do not attract additional criminal activities. In addition, the risk assessment submitted with each new application should seek to address issues such as the location of its premises to vulnerable groups and set out ways in which it can limit its potential negative impact upon an area.

We did

Following the consultation feedback, we amended and updated the draft document where appropriate/possible to do so. In addition to these amendments the Licensing Team are now working with our Insight and Intelligence team and looking to develop, in advance of the next revision of this Statement of Principles, a comprehensive intelligence led local area profile dashboard. This dashboard will enable applicants, licence holders and any other interested parties to consider relevant issued faced in the specific area that the premises in question is located.

You can view the Full Council decision to approve the revised Gambling Statement of Principles here.