This meeting of the Licensing Committee will include for discussion the Council’s draft Statement of Gambling Principles 2025-2028. It will also include the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting of the committee.

Eastbourne Borough Council Statement of Gambling Principles 2025-2028

The Committee will be asked to review a report by Rob Cottrill, the Chief Executive of Lewes District and Eastbourne Borough Councils about the Eastbourne Borough Council Statement of Gambling Principles. The Statement of Gambling Principles is a document that sets out how the Council will approach its duties under the Gambling Act 2005¹ in the future. The Committee will be asked to approve the start of a six-week public consultation period for the new policy. The report includes for discussion an updated version of the Eastbourne Borough Council Statement of Gambling Principles 2025-2028 It states that:

Gambling has the potential to cause harm to both individuals and wider society resulting in unemployment, debt, crime, relationship problems and physical or mental health conditions. This presents a challenge as it involves a range of services such as licensing, community safety, children and families and housing, homelessness and therefore cannot be tackled by interventions aimed solely at individuals.

It goes on to describe a number of changes to the policy since it was last reviewed. One of those changes relates to the location of gambling businesses:

The Council will need to be satisfied there is sufficient evidence that the particular location of the premises would be harmful to the licensing objectives. From 6 April 2016, it is a requirement of the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP), under Section 10, for licensees to assess the local risks to the licensing objectives posed by the provisions of gambling facilities at each of their premises, and have policies, procedures and control measure to mitigate those risks. In undertaking their risk assessments, they must take into account relevant matters identified in this policy statement.

Minutes of the meeting held on 15 January 2024

The committee will be asked to approve the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Committee that was held on 15 January 2024. These minutes record that the previous meeting discussed the transition to lower or zero-emission vehicles in the taxi and private hire sector. They also record that the committee discussed a review of the Licensing Act 2003 Eastbourne Borough Council Statement of Licensing Policy