Northumberland County Council's refreshed gambling policy will highlight higher risks for residents living in deprived areas, amid a "clustering" of gambling premises in places such as Blyth and Ashington. Parts of the two towns consistently rank as the most deprived areas of the entire county.
Policy covers range of harms
The new policy, which covers physical gambling premises like betting shops, states that gambling can affect everything from relationships to crime and even create a suicide risk. The council says the changes will help applicants, members and partners understand "local circumstances" when considering gambling risk and make the policy "more relevant to real-world harms" experienced by families, individuals and communities.
Coun Gordon Stewart, cabinet member for public safety, explained that the council had "nothing to do" with the regulation of online gambling, which is a Government matter. Speaking at Monday's meeting of the council's Communities and Place scrutiny committee, Coun Stewart added: "This is about the role of the council and the administration in the supervision of gambling of all levels."
Public health approach
Head of public protection Colin McDonald added that the council was responsible for issuing licences to gambling premises. He added the new, refreshed policy was taking "more of a public health approach".
Mr McDonald continued: "This will make sure harm is framed as a central planks of things we want to prevent within the county. We cannot deal necessarily with harm in its entirety in licensing. In relation to overall harm and how gambling might affect the county, that is beyond our reach. Nevertheless, the narrative of the refreshed policy is such that it at least takes that into account."
Government plans to change licensing rules
Committee chairman Coun David Bawn questioned whether there was provision in the law to refuse permission for a licence based on the proliferation of other premises in the area. Some councils have taken a similar approach to fast food takeaways in a bid to tackle obesity.
Mr McDonald replied: "We as a local licensing authority have to aim to permit. You can't take a holistic view regardless of what the data says. It has been announced by Government that they will look at 'aim to permit' which will give ore power to local authorities and you as members to look at a holistic view. We still await what Government are going to do in terms of how that looks, but it feels like that is on its way."
As part of the Prime Minister Andy Burnham's plan to revamp local high streets, the Government has said it intends to "revoke" the "outdated" aim to permit rule. It said that the rule "currently restricts the ability of councils to refuse new betting shops and 24-hour slot machine shops even where there are strong local concerns".
The change would "give communities and councils a stronger say over whether new betting shops are right for their area, helping stop them spreading unchecked across struggling high streets".
Speaking in August, Mr Burnham said: "For many people, the high streets they grew up with have been hollowed out and become unrecognisable over decades of decline. The rise of vape shops, betting shops and rogue operators have replaced the shops, services, and community spaces that people are crying out for."
