Bucks Council wants your feedback on gambling policy

Buckinghamshire Council is set to review their gambling licensing policy and wants to receive feedback from the public.

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 is an Act of Parliament designed to control all forms of gambling. It transfers authority for licensing gambling from the magistrates' courts to local authorities.

Buckinghamshire Council’s single draft policy sets out their approach to licensing objectives when considering applications. They would like the public’s feedback by 10^th December.

The policy includes information which is required by law and sets out the Council's expectations for applicants and licence holders to ensure that they can comply with the licensing objectives.

A review occurs at least every three years.

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.