Lib-Dems call for action on betting shops

LIB-DEM councillors will attempt to halt the spread of betting shops on Oldham’s high streets with aproposal to Oldham Council’s meeting next Wednesday.

The party wants the council to write to ministers urging them to take action to curb the increase in planning applications for betting shops.

Last month the Chronicle reported how residents had objected to plans to open a new betting shop in Hollins Road - only 200 yards from another bookmaker.

Councillor Howard Sykes, leader of the opposition Lib-Dem group, and Councillor Rod Blyth, shadow cabinet member for social care and public health, have proposed the motion.

It asks the council to urge ministers to repeal sections of the 2005 Gambling Act, which prevents councils from considering the existing number of gambling licences when considering new applications. The councillors are also backing recommendations in Mary Portas’s retail review, to make betting shops a separate class for planning purposes.

Councillor Sykes said: “Ms Portas made a strong case that betting shops should be in a planning class all of their own so every new one would require full planning permission.”