Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
The Campaign Against The Proliferation of Betting Shops
Dear all,
Late last year, members from this forum wrote to me regarding your concerns about the problems of betting shop clustering.
I have responded to it by starting a campaign that you can find here - http://www.davidlammy.co.uk/No_More_Gambling_With_Our_Community.
I have FOI'd Haringey council to find all of the betting shops in my Tottenham Constituency (37!), and I have mapped them here - http://www.davidlammy.co.uk/No_More_Gambling_With_Our_Community#Map
You can sign the petition and read the letter of support I have written: http://www.davidlammy.co.uk/No_More_Gambling_With_Our_Community#Pet...
I will write to the Secretary of State when I have collected enough signatures to hand to him to demonstrate the level of opposition to further gambling establishments in my constituency and Harringay in particular.
The campaign is far from over, and I'll be sure to keep members of this forum updated with any further action.
All the best,
David
P.S. I am running a further campaign against Boris' fare increases, please have a look if you're interested: http://www.davidlammy.co.uk/The_Campaign_Against_Fare_Increases
Late last year, members from this forum wrote to me regarding your concerns about the problems of betting shop clustering.
I have responded to it by starting a campaign that you can find here - http://www.davidlammy.co.uk/No_More_Gambling_With_Our_Community.
I have FOI'd Haringey council to find all of the betting shops in my Tottenham Constituency (37!), and I have mapped them here - http://www.davidlammy.co.uk/No_More_Gambling_With_Our_Community#Map
You can sign the petition and read the letter of support I have written: http://www.davidlammy.co.uk/No_More_Gambling_With_Our_Community#Pet...
I will write to the Secretary of State when I have collected enough signatures to hand to him to demonstrate the level of opposition to further gambling establishments in my constituency and Harringay in particular.
The campaign is far from over, and I'll be sure to keep members of this forum updated with any further action.
All the best,
David
P.S. I am running a further campaign against Boris' fare increases, please have a look if you're interested: http://www.davidlammy.co.uk/The_Campaign_Against_Fare_Increases
Tags for Forum Posts: betting shops, gambling
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Protheroe O'Shea on
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Just signed
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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Great, thank you. Have just signed too. How many signatures are you aiming for?
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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And fares never went up under Ken Livingstone ? Well I suppose there was a freeze in election year :-) Otherwise there was a consistent above-inflation increase each January.
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Permalink Reply by Chris brock on
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Here, here
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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And a fantastic bus service which you regularly avail yourself of. That was what those fare increases paid for. I very much doubt that Ken would have put bus fares up MORE than tube fares.
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Ooops, John D we took this off topic and must make reparations.
I've signed!
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Thank you David. Very useful map. I trust your 'office' is taking this out to the doorsteps of voters over the next few months. As you say, we need those signatures.
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Permalink Reply by David Schmitz on
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I am very pleased to support any campaign which has as its object the prevention of the proliferation of gambling establishments in Tottenham.
It is only right, however, to point out that the problem has arisen because the Gambling Act 2005 allows local authorities only the most limited grounds on which to refuse an application for a gambling premises licence.
At the time when that Act was brought into force, David Lammy was himself a minister in the relevant department (that of Culture, Media and Sport).
At a public meeting held in February 2009 at St. John’s Church Hall, Wightman Road, David Lammy admitted that the Act had created certain unforeseen problems in various parts of the country, including Tottenham. He also said that he would attempt to obtain an amendment to the Act, although he acknowledged that it would be difficult to secure Parliamentary time for the necessary bill.
Now, nearly one year on, there has still been no action and the results have been, as we all agree, very worrying. What is even worse is that if an amendment were to be enacted now it would be largely too late because the new premises are already here. The horses (and the one-armed bandits too for that matter) have bolted.
On 13th February 2009, in an attempt to help rescue the situation, I described the problem on HarringayonLine in somewhat lawyerly language and I set out a draft amendment which would have helped. I repeat here what I said.
Gambling
On the issue of gambling, it was good to hear that David will be lobbying for a change in the legislation so as to prevent further clustering of gambling establishments, but it was disappointing not to be given any idea as to what legislation he proposes nor as to when it might come into effect (a matter of particular importance because once premises licences are given, they cannot easily be taken away). The reason which he gave was that there were other pressures on the Parliamentary timetable.
It seems to me that there is quite a simple solution, which is to make two small amendments to the Gambling Act 2005 in order to give local authorities the power to refuse applications on grounds other than the very limited grounds which are at present available to them. At present, the only grounds are (1) danger to children and other vulnerable persons and (2) danger of crime or disorder, by which is meant something more than "mere" nuisance to the public. Local authorities, moreover, are expressly forbidden from considering the expected demand for gambling establishments, which means that they cannot say, "No, because there are already too many of them."
The new legislation which is necessary to remedy the situation could be set out in a one clause bill, which would (1) amend subsection (2) of Section 153 so as to add the words, "but a licensing authority may take into account any overprovision of such facilities which it may consider to exist." and (2) amend section 24 so as to add a subsection which provides that the code of practice which licensing authorities must follow will provide that the licensing authority "should take into account (1) the need of the community to be provided with other types of businesses in the limited number of shop premises which are available in that community and (2) the impact of additional gambling establishments on the character of the immediate area." Such legislation would not be controversial, and would be unlikely to take up much parliamentary time. Perhaps he might copy and paste this amendment and pass it to the minister.
The need to remedy this legislation should be of particular concern to David Lammy, because he was of course a minister in the relevant department when the present legislation was brought into force.
In these dying days of the current government, there is little which any Parliamentarian can do. What I can say is that, should I be elected as your MP, I will keep in close touch with you so that I can be quick to spot any ways in which government legislation might damage this constituency and quick to work out ways to remedy any damage which may occur.
David Schmitz
Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Tottenham
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Permalink Reply by Paul Martin on
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I have certainly noticed the proliferation of betting shops in our own dear Green Lanes, there must be a good half dozen or more. I was just wondering, though.. what is the main objection to said proliferation?
As a local resident I of course traverse the Green Lane very frequently, but it's true to say that I have never seen any disturbances of any kind in or around the betting establishments. Aside from the possible objection that the unhealthy-looking men that frequent the shops might be better spending their cash on fruit 'n' veg, what is the problem? I'm sure I'm missing something!
For: well betting is taxed, so plenty of cash must be finding its way to HM Treasury from the 'Gay, we should perhaps be proud of our contribution to the country's coffers!
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Ha ha ha ha, income from betting is tax free. If you're talking about the tax the betting companies pay then that's a different matter. Traders pay more than corporation tax on their gambling income, happy for that? I am, so just asking.
I agree, if there were only six I would not see what all the fuss was about but there are eight and we're staring down the barrel of a ninth.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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If you are interested in pursuing the issues further, this post has an overview and links to many of the earlier debates on HOL on betting shops in the area.
Personally, I have 4 within 100 yards of the end of my road. Whichever direction I go, I can see them. One sits at the end of my road and another is likely to open on the other corner just past the Post Office. A couple of shops on from that is a William Hills. On the corner across the road sits Ladbrokes. This is saturation of an area and is not good for the High Street.
As to trouble, much of happens inside the shops and is often caused by the punters losing on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals. These punters are also responsible for low level but unwelcome anti-social behaviour such as littering and noise. There have been armed robberies of betting shops here and on Tottenham High Road, one at 8 in the morning.
That said, when there were a couple of betting shops on the strip between St Ann's and the bridge, there was really no problem-all part of GL's rich tapestry but NINE is really too much of a good thing, wouldn't you agree Paul?
If you don't, and there are some members who quite vigorously feel we should leave well alone and let the gambling industry walk all over British high streets, then the easy option is to do nothing and saturation will happen. All the laws are on the side of the gambling industry- handed to them in the Gambling Act mentioned above.
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