Gambling Policy Statement

Part 1 - Policy Statement

1. Introduction on the Licensing Objectives
2. Local Area
3. Legal Background to this Policy Statement
4. Responsible Authorities
5. Interested Parties
6. Exchange of Information
7. Enforcement
8. Licensing Authority Functions

1. Introduction on the Licensing Objectives

In exercising most of their functions under the Gambling Act 2005, licensing authorities must have regard to the licensing objectives as set out in section 1 of the Act. The licensing objectives are:

• Preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or 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.

It should be noted that the Gambling Commission has stated: "The requirement in relation to children is explicitly to protect them from being harmed or exploited by gambling".

This licensing authority is aware that, as per Section 153, in making decisions about premises licences and temporary use notices it should aim to permit the use of premises for gambling in so far as it thinks it is:

• in accordance with any relevant code of practice issued by the Gambling Commission;
• in accordance with any relevant guidance issued by the Gambling Commission;
• reasonably consistent with the licensing objectives; and
• in accordance with the Authority's statement of licensing policy.

Licensing authorities are required by the Gambling Act 2005 to publish a statement of the principles which they proposed to apply when exercising their functions. This statement must be published at least every three years. The statement must also be reviewed from "time to time" and any amended parts re-consulted upon. The statement must be then re-published.

The Gambling Act requires that the following parties be consulted by Licensing Authorities:

• The Chief Officer of Police;
• One or more persons who appear to the authority to represent the interests of persons carrying on gambling businesses in the authority's area;
• One or more persons who appear to the authority to represent the interests of persons who are likely to be affected by the exercise of the authority's functions under the Gambling Act 2005.

It should be noted that this policy statement will not override the right of any person to make an application, make representations about an application, or apply for a review of a licence, as each will be considered on its own merits and according to the statutory requirements of the Gambling Act 2005.

2. Local Area

Tameside is situated in Greater Manchester, is at the heart of the country's second largest regional centre, situated between Manchester city centre and the Peak District.

One product of the Industrial Revolution was the development of strong, close-knit communities with their own tradition and heritage. The focus on local communities is a key driver of the Council's work.
Created in 1974, the borough itself is a mix of urban and rural communities, including historic market towns, a canal network and industrial heritage areas. There are nine towns in the borough:

• Ashton-under-Lyne
• Audenshaw
• Denton
• Droylsden
• Dukinfield
• Hyde
• Longdendale
• Mossley
• Stalybridge

Tameside has a population of more than 213,000 and around 6,000 businesses - most of them small or medium sized - in a compact area of 40 square miles.

The ethnic communities, largely of Asian origin, make up 5.4 percent of the population, centred on the towns of Hyde and Ashton.

The service sector makes up the largest employment sector in Tameside, though there ware a number of successful manufacturing companies, in particular in aerospace, engineering, food industries and chemical products. Most of the larger employers are branches of multi-nationals based outside the area.

Inward investment and development is at an all-time high following the completion of the M60 in Tameside in 2000. Over the past seven years, 123 companies have moved into the borough, creating more than 4,000 new jobs while 299 local business relocations have safeguarded around 6,000 jobs.

Stalybridge has benefited from the re-opening of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, which has prompted the revitalisation of the town centre with new housing, shops and restaurants, pubs and clubs.
A major regional fashion retail outlet - Crown Point North Shopping Park - has opened in Denton, attracting well known high street names and retailers new to Tameside, such as TK Maxx and BHS.
Work is underway on a five-year plan to develop a canalside quarter including a 30-boat secure marina at Droylsden. The vision is for high quality housing with complementary leisure, some commercial office development and a number of speciality shops.

In Ashton, a large supermarket, cinema complex and a number of restaurants are already open at the major Ashton Moss development. Work is underway on other new businesses and a hotel and leisure complex is planned. Once complete, Ashton Moss will attract up to 3,000 new jobs - and a further 1,800 are promised with the development of the St. Petersfield business district in Ashton-under-Lyne. In 2006, IKEA chose Ashton-under-Lyne as the location for its first town centre retail outlet. The store opened in October 2006 and is expected to attract 20,000 customers per week.

There are also 8 District Assemblies within Tameside, each of which are committed to dealing with crime and disorder at a local level.

3. Legal Background to this Policy Statement

In March 2002, the Government published a White Paper "A Safe Bet for Success". The White Paper was the Government's response to the report of the Gambling Review Body published July 2001.

The Gambling Act 2005 gives effect to the Government's proposals for reforms of the law on gambling. The Act contains new regulatory system to govern the provision of all gambling in Great Britain other than the National Lottery and spread betting. It received Royal Assent on 7 April 2005.

The Gambling Act 2005 repeals the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act 1963, the Gaming Act 1968 and the Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976.

The Act has introduced a unified regulator for gambling in Great Britain, the Gambling Commission, and a new licensing regime for commercial gambling (to be conducted by the Commission or by licensing authorities, depending on the matter to be licensed). The Act removes from licensing justices all responsibility for granting gambling and betting permissions, which they exercised previously. Instead, the Commission and licensing authorities will share between them responsibility for all matters previously regulated by licensing justices.

From 2007, the commission will be responsible for granting operating and personal licences for commercial gambling operators and personnel working in the industry. It will also regulate certain lottery managers and promoters. The Act sets out different types of operating licences that cover the full range of gambling activities in Great Britain.

Licensing authorities will have new powers to licence gambling premises within their area, as well as undertaking functions in relation to lower stake gaming machines and clubs and miners' welfare institutes. The Act also provides a new system of temporary use notices. These will authorise premises that are not licensed generally for gambling purposes to be used for certain types of gambling, for limited periods.

Consultation on this policy has been undertaken in accordance with the Cabinet Office Code of Practice on Written Consultation.

In addition, in formulating this policy document, the Council has had regard to the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights that everyone has the right to respect for their home and private life and that every person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of their possessions (including a licence).

The Human Rights Act 1998 makes it unlawful for a public authority to act in a way that will be incompatible with a convention right. Consequently, an aim of this policy and in particular in relation to the decision making processes of Tameside Council, is to ensure that a licensing decision does not cause a breach of a convention right.

The Council has taken into account the provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. This requires local authorities to have regard to the likely effect of the exercise of their functions on crime and disorder in their area and to do all they can to prevent such crime and disorder.

The Council has undertaken an Equalities Impact Assessment on this policy document to ensure that no individual/groups are disadvantaged as a result of this policy.

In producing the statement, this licensing authority has had regard to the licensing objectives of the Gambling Act 2005, the guidance issued by the Gambling Commission,and responses from those consulted on the statement. A list of consultees is included at Appendix A.

4. Responsible Authorities

The licensing authority is required by regulations to state the principles it will apply in exercising its powers under Section 157(h) of the Act to designate, in writing, a body which is competent to advise the authority about the protection of children from harm. The principles are:

• the need for the body to be responsible for an area covering the whole of the licensing authority's area; and
• the need for the body to be answerable to democratically elected persons, rather than any particular vested interest group.

In accordance with the suggestion in the Gambling Commission's Guidance for local authorities, this authority designates the Local Safeguarding Children Board for this purpose.

The details of all the Responsible Authorities under the Gambling Act 2005 are available at Appendix B.

5. Interested Parties

Interested parties can make representations about licence applications, or apply for a review of an existing licence. These parties are defined in the Gambling Act 2005 as follows:

"For the purposes of this Part a person is an interested party in relation to an application for or in respect of a premises licence if, in the opinion of the licensing authority which issues the licence or to which the applications is made, the person-

1. lives sufficiently close to the premises to be likely to be affected by the authorised activities,
2. has business interests that might be affected by the authorised activities, or
3. represents persons who satisfy paragraph (a) or (b)"

The licensing authority is required by regulations to state the principles it will apply in exercising its powers under the Gambling Act 2005 to determine whether a person is an interested party. The principles are:

Each determination will be decided upon its merits. This authority will not apply a rigid rule to its determinations. It will consider the examples of considerations provided in the Gambling Commission's Guidance for local authorities at 8.14 relating to sufficiently close the premises and 8.15 relating to business interests (included at Appendix D). It will also consider the Gambling Commission's Guidance that "has business interests" should be given the widest possible interpretation and include partnerships, charities, faith groups and medical practices. If in the particular circumstances of the application the licensing authority departs from the guidance it will explain its reasons for doing so.

The Gambling Commission has recommended that the licensing authority states that interested parties include trade associations and trade unions, and residents' and tenants' associations and individual residents (Gambling Commission Guidance for local authorities 8.17). This authority will not however generally view these bodies as interested parties unless they have a member who can be classed as an interested person under the terms of the Gambling Act 2005 i.e. lives sufficiently close to the premises to be likely to be affected by the activities being applied for.

Interested parties can be persons who are democratically elected such as Councillors and MP's. No specific evidence of being asked to represent an interested person will be required as long as the Councillor/MP represents the ward likely to be affected. Likewise, parish councils likely to be affected, will be considered to be interested parties. Other than these however, this authority will generally require written evidence that a person/body (e.g. an advocate / relative) ‘represents' someone who either lives sufficiently close to the premises to be likely to be affected by the authorised activities and/or has business interests that might be affected by the authorised activities. A letter from one of these persons, requesting the representation is sufficient.

If individuals wish to approach councillors to ask them to represent their views then care should be taken that the councillors are not part of the Licensing Committee dealing with the licence application. If there are any doubts then please contact the licensing section.

6. Exchange of Information

Licensing authorities are required to include in their statements the principles to be applied by the authority in exercising the functions under sections 29 and 30 of the Act with respect to the exchange of information between it and the Gambling Commission, and the functions under section 350 of the Act with the respect to the exchange of information between it and the other persons listed in Schedule 6 to the Act.

The principle that this licensing authority applies is that it will act in accordance with the provisions of the Gambling Act 2005 in its exchange of information which includes the provision that the Data Protection Act 1998 will not be contravened. The licensing authority will also have regard to any Guidance issued by the Gambling Commission to local authorities on this matter when it is published, as well as any relevant regulations issued by the Secretary of State under the powers provided in the Gambling Act 2005.

Should any protocols be established as regards information exchange with other bodies then they will be made available.

7. Enforcement

Licensing authorities are required by regulation under the Gambling Act 2005 to state the principles to be applied by the authority in exercising the functions under Part 15 of the Act with respect to the inspection of premises; and the powers under section 346 of the Act to institute criminal proceedings in respect of the offences specified.

This licensing authority's principles are that:

It will be guided by the Gambling Commission's Guidance for local authorities and will endeavour to be:

• Proportionate: regulators should only intervene when necessary: Remedies should be appropriate to the risk posed, and costs identified and minimised;
• Accountable: regulators must be able to justify decisions, and be subject to public scrutiny;
• Consistent: rules and standards must be joined up and implemented fairly;
• Transparent: regulators should be open, and keep regulations simple and user friendly; and
• Targeted: regulation should be focused on the problem, and minimise side effects.

As per the Gambling Commission's Guidance for local authorities this licensing authority will endeavour to avoid duplication with other regulatory regimes so far as possible.

This licensing authority will also, as recommended by the Gambling Commission's Guidance for local authorities, adopt a risk-based inspection programme. Whilst the Gambling Commission's Guidance suggests that the criteria the authority will utilise in this respect are included in this statement, this has not been possible. At the time of writing the Gambling Commission has not published its risk criteria, nor are regulations such as mandatory / default conditions published, nor Codes of Practice. LACORS is working with the Gambling Commission to produce a risk model for premises licences and this authority will consider that model once it is made available.

The main enforcement and compliance role for this licensing authority in terms of the Gambling Act 2005 will be to ensure compliance with the premises licences and other permissions which it authorises. The Gambling Commission will be the enforcement body for the operating and personal licences. It is also worth noting that concerns about manufacture, supply or repair of gaming machines will not be dealt with by the licensing authority but will be notified to the Gambling Commission.

This licensing authority will also keep itself informed of developments as regards the work of the Better Regulation Executive in its consideration of the regulatory functions of local authorities.

Bearing in mind the principle of transparency, this licensing authority's enforcement/compliance protocols/written agreements will be available upon request to the licensing section. Our risk methodology will also be available upon request.

This licensing authority recognises that certain businesses have a number of premises within Tameside. In order to ensure that any compliance issues are recognised and resolved at the earliest stage, operators are requested to give the authority a single named point of contact, who should be a senior individual and whom the authority will contact in addition to the premises manager should any compliance queries or issues arise.

8. Licensing Authority Functions

Licensing Authorities are required under the Act to:

• Be responsible for the licensing of premises where gambling activities are to take place by issuing Premises Licences
• Issue Provisional Statements
• Regulate members' clubs and miners' welfare institutes who wish to undertake certain gaming activities via issuing Club Gaming Permits and/or Club Machine Permits
• Issue Club Machine Permits to Commercial Clubs
• Grant permits for the use of certain lower stake gaming machines at unlicensed Family Entertainment Centres
• Receive notifications from alcohol licensed premises (under the Licensing Act 2003) for the use of two or fewer gaming machines
• Issue Licensed Premises Gaming Machine Permits for premises licensed to sell/supply alcohol for consumption on the licensed premises, under the Licensing Act 2003, where there are more than two machines
• Register small society lotteries below prescribed thresholds
• Issue Prize Gaming Permits
• Receive and Endorse Temporary Use Notices
• Receive Occasional Use Notices
• Provide information to the Gambling Commission regarding details of licences issued (see section above on ‘information exchange)
• Maintain registers of the permits and licences that are issued under these functions

These functions will be carried out in accordance with the Scheme of Delegation at Appendix C.

It should be noted that local licensing authorities will not be involved in licensing remote gambling, or the determination of applications for operators or personal licences, at all. This will fall to the Gambling Commission.