COUNCILS need more powers to refuse applications for bookies, an MP says.
And Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman has vowed to raise it in Parliament after seeing figures which show punters in his constituency lost more than £3m through betting in 12 months.
The Labour MP says the Government needs to look at the rules and said he will call on them to bring in greater powers to allow local councils to turn down applications for betting offices.
Last April councillors on the Huddersfield Planning Sub-Committee rejected an application for a new betting shop on New Street in the town centre.
The applicant appealed to the Planning Inspectorate who granted approval.
There are now 26 betting offices in the Huddersfield constituency area and 10 in the Colne Valley constituency. There are 131 fixed odds betting terminals (FOBT) in both areas.
Huddersfield punters bet £101,794,665 using FOBTs – electronic gaming machines.
Mr Sheerman said: “We can change the rules and we will do it.
“It has been brought up at Question Time ... I think it’s a crazy bit of planning.
“Huddersfield seems to be being hit disproportionately hard.
“We are awaiting this year’s statistics with interest, however, I will be calling on the Government to act to give councils greater powers to turn down betting licensing applications.
“This is money that doesn’t go back into the local economy and is just absorbed as profits by big betting companies.
“Almost any high street premises – a cafe, a pub, a bank, an estate agent – can all be converted into betting shops without planning permission [from the council].
“Local authorities need powers to stop betting shops on planning grounds and licensing grounds to get back control of our high streets before they are overwhelmed by these premises.”
