Wednesday's Planning Meeting had a discussion on how to stop the spread of betting shops, arcades and payday lenders. These have exploded in Brent since the last government made a major mistake in passing of the Gambling Act in 2005. Indeed Brent now has one of the highest concentrations in the country, leading to a whole range of social problems and significant damage to the health of our town centres. Ed Miliband has promised powers to limit them if Labour wins office next time.
However, I have been pushing for Brent to try new ways to limit their spread for some time. Legally, this is hard, as Newham have discovered. Brent Planning officers will be coming back with another report as to whether an "Article 4 Direction" can be made to limit the number of such outlets within a given area. I would welcome this, although there is a real risk of a legal challenge from the wealthy companies currently hoovering up the money of customers who can often least afford it.
UPDATE
The urgency of this has been re-emphasised by today's Guardian (1 March 2014) and it's shocking figures on the spread of betting.
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