Earlier this month, the Gambling Act 2005 became law. Many people will be concerned about what this means for Guildford. Following opposition in Parliament, the Government were forced into allowing just 1 new ‘regional’ super-casino, 8 new ‘large’ casinos and 8 new ‘small’ casinos across Britain. However, the Government have subsequently indicated they may still push through the creation of up to 7 more super-casinos.
However, following Conservative pressure during the drafting of the new laws, the Act allows the local licensing authority to introduce a blanket policy blocking the granting of any new casino ‘premises’ licence. This gives Guildford Borough Council the power to block the opening of any casino, irrespective of the separate issue of planning permission. Such a policy would have to apply to all new casinos, and could not single out individual applications.
As a member of the Licensing Committee, I will be calling on the Committee to consider the case for introducing such a policy. Due process will, I am sure, be followed, and local residents and all interested parties must be given every opportunity to put their arguments for and against such a policy. After a fair hearing of all the issues, if such a policy were adopted by the Council, no casino would be on the cards for Guildford.
Cllr Sheridan Westlake
Blog RSS feed
