Have your say on the Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Licensing Policy draft

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Buckinghamshire Council is preparing their review on the Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Licensing Policy draft and is keen to hear from any individuals and organisations who can offer feedback before 10 December.

The Council is responsible for issuing permits and licences for premises where gambling takes place – such as bingo halls and betting shops. The Gambling Act 2005 policy is reviewed at least every three years and is next required to be published by 1 April 2022, with a statement of principles proposed to apply when exercising functions under the act.

What is the Gambling Act 2005?

The Gambling Act 2005 sets out licensing objectives that underpin the legislation and must be taken into consideration by the Council and by people who provide gambling facilities or carry out small scale lotteries or raffles. The single draft policy sets out the Council’s approach to promoting the licensing objectives when considering and deciding applications. The policy includes information which is required by legislation and by the Gambling Commission’s Guidance to Local Authorities and sets out the Council’s expectations for applicants and licence holders to ensure that they can comply with the licensing objectives.

The objectives are:

  • Preventing gambling being a source of crime and disorder, being associated with crime and disorder, or being used to support crime.
  • Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way.
  • Protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

Nick Naylor, Cabinet Member for Housing, Homelessness and Regulatory Services, said:

“Adding to the Gambling Act 2005, the Council has produced a Local Area Profile to help provide relevant local information, to keep us up to date and to help applicants and licence holders produce the required risk assessments for their businesses.

“We urge anyone with comments to take part in the consultation, so we can review the feedback and gather an accurate image of what the community feels can be further amended.”

After reviewing the feedback, the final version of the policy will go to the Council’s Licensing Committee on 2 February 2022, followed by Full Council on 23 February 2022 for approval.

The consultation is running until 10 December. You can have your say at: https://yourvoicebucks.citizenspace.com/communities/gambling-act-policy

Buckinghamshire Council will contact all of the statutory consultees directly. A printed version of the survey is available on request by emailing licensing@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.