Gambling Act Statement of Policy and Principles 2025-28
Welcome to the Gambling Act Statement of Policy and Principles engagement page.
The Gambling Act 2005 requires all licensing authorities to prepare and publish a Gambling Act Statement of Policy and Principles every three years. A review of the current policy, which is due to expire in January 2025, is now underway.
During the six-week consultation period, London Borough of Harrow welcomes the views of residents, businesses, operators and people involved in the licensed trade on Harrow's proposed Gambling Policy 2025-2028.
The closing date for submitting consultation responses is 23:59 on 22 December 2024.
Background
The Draft Gambling Act Statement of Policy and Principles sets out the London Borough of Harrow's duties under the Gambling Act 2005. It informs the decision making of the Council as the 'Licensing Authority' on whether to grant an application, whether to add any conditions to a licence, and whether to accept an application for the review of a licence, or seek a review in its own right.
Licensing policies must be prepared in accordance with the Act. Guidance issued by the Gambling Commission prescribes the information that must be included in the policy, but the policy must also reflect local circumstances, hence the importance of local consultation.
Proposed Policy - Changes to current version
The policy has been refreshed in relation to numbering, and references have been updated to reflect changes in links to websites or where the policy referred to a Section in the Gambling Committee’s guidance which has now changed.
The document has also been refreshed in relation to Section 4 which contains information about Harrow – this has been updated to more recent information.
The following wording has been removed from the policy to reflect changes in procedures in reviewing licenses:
" A referral to a Licensing Panel of a set of premises for a review will be first approved by the Head of Enforcement and Licensing "
" Reviews of a class of premises will be first agreed to by the Head of Community and Public Protection in consultation with the Chair of the Licensing and General Purposes Committee."
Get Involved
We welcome your views on the proposed changes to the Gambling Policy above, and to hear about any other changes you would wish to see in the policy, and your reasons for them.
Please provide your views using the online survey
Alternatively, you can upload a file with a written response within the survey or email your comments to licensing@harrow.gov.uk
Any comments you send should clearly state your name, any organisation or persons you may be responding on behalf of and your address. Please state that your comments relate to London Borough of Harrow Gambling Act Statement of Policy and Principles.
Next steps
We will consider all the responses and amend the proposed policy as appropriate. The updated policy will then be considered by the Licensing and General Purposes Committee and by full Council early in 2025.
It should be noted that the Gambling Commission Guidance advises that demand for gambling premises and morality issues are not considerations under this legislation. Therefore the authority will not be in a position to consider any comments of this nature.
