The meeting covered a review of Telford and Wrekin Council’s Statement of Gambling Policy, the minutes of a previous meeting and the adoption of pavement licence fees.

Review of the Gambling Act 2005 Statement of Gambling Policy

The Licensing Committee were asked to endorse an updated “Statement of Gambling Licensing Policy” for the period January 2025 - January 2028, to allow it to be recommended to a future meeting of the Full Council for adoption.

The document sets out how Telford and Wrekin Council will apply the principles of the Gambling Act 2005 in their role as the local Licensing Authority¹ for gambling.

In particular, the document sets out how the council aims to uphold the three licensing objectives set out in the Gambling Act:

• 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

The report identifies a number of different types of gambling that require licenses, including:

• Adult Gaming Centres
• Bingo
• Betting Premises (including tracks)
• Family Entertainment Centres

The policy document sets out how each of these types of premises will be treated by the council when making licensing decisions.

For example, the policy states that:

This Licensing Authority will specifically have regard to the need to protect children and vulnerable persons from harm or being exploited by gambling and will expect the applicant to satisfy the Authority that there will be sufficient measures to, for example, ensure that under 18 year olds do not have access to the premises.

The policy document also sets out the council's approach to:

• Responsible Authorities, which are other public bodies such as the police, fire service, and the Gambling Commission, that can make representations to the council about individual licensing applications
• Interested Parties, which are local residents and businesses, that can make representations about licence applications or apply for a review of an existing licence.
• Conditions of Licence, which can be applied to individual businesses

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The committee were scheduled to confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 29 July 2024.

Pavement Licence Fees

The Licensing Committee were asked to approve the adoption of a fee of £400 for new applications for pavement licences and £250 for licence renewals.

The report notes that:

The revised fees were introduced by the Government on the 31 March 2023 which enabled Local Authorities to recover their costs associated with administering and managing such licences.

The report goes on to explain that:

Once approved a pavement licence would be granted for a two-year period.