Report No. 11/2016 from the Licensing Act Committee on the Gambling Act Statement of Principles which required Council approval was received.

Mr Walters introduced and moved the recommendations below and this was seconded by Mr Mathias.

Items raised during debate included:

·         Mr Conde expressed concerns regarding Category B2 Gaming Machines where the maximum stake is set at £100.  These machines produced high returns for the operators and could be highly addictive resulting in users building high levels of debt which in turn could cause negative effects in their personal lives.

Mr Conde proposed the following amendment to the recommendation:

That Council approves the adoption of the attached Statement of Principles as Rutland County Council’s formal three year Statement under Section 349 of the Gambling Act 2005, subject to an adjustment of Appendix 5 of Report 11/2016 reducing the maximum stake in Category B2 Machines to £2.

This amendment was seconded by Mr Lammie.

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The Chairman adjourned the meeting at 19:41 while legal advice was taken on the amendment.

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The Chairman reconvened the meeting at 19:47

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Mr Conde withdrew his amendment on the advice of legal representatives and debate resumed on the original motion.

RESOLVED

1)    To APPROVE the adoption of the Statement of Principles (Attached to Report 11/2016) as Rutland County Council’s formal three year Statement under Section 349 of the Gambling Act 2005.

To receive Report No. 190/2015 from the Director for Places (Environment, Planning and Transport)

Report No. 190/2015 from the Director for Places (Environment, Planning and Transport) was received.  The purpose of the report was to make Members aware of the comments received during the consultation process and to seek approval of the draft Statement of Principles and to seek recommendation to Council for adoption.

During the discussion the following points were noted:

i)             That was a statutory requirement for each council to produce and adopt a policy.

ii)            That the policy drafted followed the Standard National Model.

iii)           That the Gambling Commission was responsible for the issuing of operating and personal licences.

iv)           That the Licensing Authority was responsible for the issuing of premise licences where gambling activities were to take place.

v)            That there were 26 premise permits issued in Rutland (1 Betting Premise, 23 Gaming Permits and 2 Club Permits).

vi)           That the two responses during the consultation had been incorporated into the report where appropriate.

vii)         That a primary objective when considering premise licensing was to protect children and vulnerable adults from gambling.  The Authority was within its rights to deem whether suitable on a case by case basis.

viii)        That any costs in relation to the production of the policy would be met by income from the gambling licensing fees.

ix)           That there was a requirement for a risk assessment to be undertaken in relation to a licence application.

x)            That the effective date for the policy would be January 2016; to be renewed every three years.

xi)           That the policy would be taken to Council in January 2016 for formal adoption.

RESOLVED

That the draft proposed Gambling Act 2005, Statement of Principles be APPROVED and that COUNCIL BE RECOMMENDED to formally adopt the proposed Gambling Act 2005, Statement of Principles for Rutland County Council.