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House of Commons Library briefing paper published on betting shops

The House of Commons Library (HoC Library) has published a briefing paper that looks at licensing and planning issues relating to betting shops.
In relation to planning, there are concerns that the clustering of betting shops is affecting high street vitality. The paper highlights the following calls that have been made to use the planning system to prevent this:

  • The Local Government Association has asked the government to introduce a “cumulative impacts test” to enable councils to reject applications for new betting shops.
  • The Fixed Odds Betting Terminals All Party Parliamentary Group has said that “powers should be given to local authorities to prevent the clustering of betting shops”.

Given that Gambling Commission statistics as at November 2017 showed there were 8,502 betting shops in Great Britain the briefing paper is therefore going to be very relevant to many businesses.
Source: HoC Library: Betting shops: licensing and planning issues

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