Adjournment Debate on planning law and betting shops

Yesterday evening, David Lammy addressed Parliament on the issue of planning law and bookmakers in Haringey, the borough in which his constituency of Tottenham resides.

David’s speech on Betting Shops in Haringey [link] can be viewed in full here - http://bit.ly/i2hr09

Haringey, like many other metropolitan areas in the country, has seen betting shops concentrate in areas of High Street, often dominating them, often replacing essential local amenities and often occupying iconic local buildings:

In his speech, David claims the licensing system is to blame, but it can be solved through simple planning solutions.

Betting Shops are currently classified in the same Planning Use Class category as Banks and Estate Agents (Use Class A2), meaning a premise occupied by a bank, estate agent or credit union can be converted to a betting shop without the need for planning permission, even though they have a very different socio-economic impact.

David used his speech to call on the Minister to move the betting shops out of the A2 planning category and into a category into itself (known as Sui Generis), granting councils the power to manage the location and frequency of shop frontage occupied by a gambling premise.

Bob Neill MP (Conservative, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government) replied on behalf of the government and indicated that planning could not solve the problem of betting shops in Haringey and recommended it to be solved through licensing. This is in stark contrast to the letters received from the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, who are responsible for licensing, claim it is an issue for planning.

Bob Neill’s reply [link] can be viewed in full here - http://bit.ly/fv3p7v

After the debate, David said:

“It is important to have our concerns on record, and it will put pressure on the Government to include remedies for our problem in the upcoming Decentralisation and Localism Bill.”

“I remain concerned that there appears to be no leadership on this matter within government. DCLG says it is a licensing problem, DCMS say it is a planning problem – no department wants to take responsibility for it.”