So we have the:
"Done Brothers" of Warrington WA3 7PQ trading as Betfred
applying for a betting premises license under section 159 of the Gambling Act 2005
for 93-95 Deptford High Street.
Unfortunately, the 'Gambling License' applied for above does not require that it is posted online and, unlike 'Planning Permission' there is no facility for objecting online either. In fact the only way you would know that the Halifax is about to become Betfred is by reading the notice currently stuck to the window of 93-95 Deptford High Street.
We wrote to the Licensing Team and got this message:
Your objection can be via letter or email but must include a name and address as objectors must reside in the vicinity of the premises.
The grounds for such objections under the above legislation, must specifically relate to one or more of the Licensing Objectives which are
The grounds for such objections under the above legislation, must specifically relate to one or more of the Licensing Objectives which are
- Preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder, or being used to support crime.
- Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way
- Protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploiting by gambling.
- Under this legislation the number of betting shops in an area is not a relevant ground for objection.
I would also advise that a copy of your representation has to be sent to the applicant, and should the application be determined by the licensing committee of the council at a public meeting your letter would form part of agenda papers for the meeting. You will have the opportunity to address the committee on this matter. These documents are available to the press and the public.
Well, we do know some people living in the vicinity, so we will be encouraging them to making representations (not that they need much nudging).
Those of us living down the road (ie not in the immediate vicinity) but nevertheless concerned if not distressed by this might want to write a letter of objection to the licensing committee and should copy that letter to local councillors, MP and press.
The address to email your objections to:
Licensing@lewisham.gov.uk
The Licensing Team did not tell us the email address of the applicant however, so we cannot copy to them until we are informed of it, although we do have an address from the notice in the window as follows: Spectrum, 56-58 Benson Road, Birchwood, Warrington, WA3 7PQ
In the meantime copy your email to:
john.hugill@slp.co.uk
CllrStephen.Padmore@lewisham.gov.uk
CllrPaul.Maslin@lewisham.gov.uk
madeliene.long@lewisham.gov.uk
ruddockj@parliament.uk
Betfred / Done Brothers (awaiting address from Licensing since no contact email has been provided)*
Then there are the councillors on the Gambling Licensing committee...but that's built on shifting sands and it's difficult for the public to find out who the three members of the Licensing Team may actually be....:
Councillors Addison, Affiku, Britton, Bonavia, Daby, Griesenbeck, Jeffrey, Morrison, Peake and Stamirowski (chair).
*Postscript:
Licensing has since written to us to say they will send on a copy to the applicant any objections sent to them.
Well done for spotting this, I have also posted to my blog and linked here. We should certainly be lobbying local politicians about this, even if their hands are tied in terms of what they can do. In the meantime I'm going to give some thought to what we can do in terms of a wider-reaching campaign about the issue in general.
ReplyDeleteI've just lodged my complaint with the above emails. Thanks for pointing this out, I think it is a real shame that the high street is going to the dogs, when it could well be one of the buzziest areas in London
ReplyDeleteI can find no definition of 'vicinity' that implies or suggests that the concerns of the residents of the Crossfields Estate are any less valid than the concerns of those closer to the High Street. by definition, the High Street is all of ours; its at the heart of Deptford and ANYONE effected by this application ought to feel free to write into the Licensing Authorities - we need loads of complaints - DONT HOLD BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIf Halifax have control over who buys the closed branch Wouldn't it be an idea to mass a complaints campaign by customers and shareholders of Halifax or any other of their new conglomeration (government bailed out) Lloyds Banking Group Comments could be addressed to Lloyds Banking Group Chief Executive Eric Daniels or Chairman Sir Win BIscoff at their London HQ 25 Griesham Street EC2V 7HN Or if you are a Deptford Halifax customer or want to talk rather than write the Direct Dial number for Halifax Customer Relations is 01977 627361...Block the basards phone !!
ReplyDeleteI have just had a theft from my shop..just a bottle of Lucozade swiped quickly in his pocket. I followed the person.Guess where he went? Straight across to Coral,a betting shop. I have a betting shop across the road where some very undesired crowd always hang around.Betting shops always attract criminals. I think the Local Police too should get involved to close these Betting shops...we don,t need them on the High street. I don,t think even Joan Ruddock will be interested.So what can we do?
ReplyDelete