The Committee considered a report by the Public Protection Manager (circulated previously) regarding the review of the Gambling Statement of Principles.

The Public Protection Manager highlighted the following:

·       The Council was under a legal obligation to review its Gambling Statement of Licensing Principles on a three yearly basis.

·       A consultation exercise had been undertaken in respect of a draft proposed revision to the Council’s Gambling Statement of Licensing Principles, which contained minor variations to the existing statement.  The results of the consultation were contained in Appendix A of the report.

·       The main proposed amendments to the Statement of Principles as detailed in paragraph 4.7 of the report.

·       The low number of consultation responses was not unusual and nationally Local Authorities received a low number of responses to this type of consultation.

In response to questions, the Public Protection Manager advised the following:

·       One consultation had been received from a member of the public and the other consultation received was from Gosschalks acting on behalf of the Betting and Gaming Council.  Gosschalks had also previously submitted a representation in respect of the Gambling statement of Principles 3 years ago.

RECOMMENDED that the proposed revised Gambling Statement of Licensing Principles be recommended to Full Council (a tracked changes document highlighting the amendments made to the current policy as contained in Appendix B) for approval.