Any casino needs three substantive consents – planning permission, a premises licence to sell alcohol and allow entertainment, and a gambling licence. There have been three planning applications, and one was granted on appeal by the Bristol-based Planning Inspectorate.

The premises licence has been obtained, but there are ongoing appeals to the Crown Courts on the opening times and capacity. The number of gambling licences allowed across the country is limited, and the South East Regional Assembly and a government agency will decide where they go in our region.

There is a trend here: unelected inspectors, judges and quangocrats taking decisions, deaf to local opinion. Yet at a recent Borough Licensing Committee, it was agreed on a motion proposed by myself and Cllr Sarah Creedy, that the council should consider introducing a blanket ban on any new casino in Guildford. Councils have this power under the Gambling Act 2005, and any decision cannot be over-ruled – provided due process is followed.

A resolution either way is likely in the latter half of next year after consultation and a fair hearing for all involved. Local people will then be able to call their councillors to account for that decision in the 2007 local elections. Democracy may yet have its day.

Cllr Sheridan Westlake