Follow up to January 2024 Council Decision regarding Gambling Statement of Principles and Cumulative Impact Assessments/Zones
Received: 23 December 2025
Under the Freedom of Information Act/Environmental Information Regulations please could you respond to the requests below. For your convenience I have provided the context (Part A) behind this request (Part B).Part A: Context - Barnet Council Gambling Statement of Principles timeline20th July 2023 Licensing and General Purposes Committee: decision made to consult on new draft of Gambling Statement of Principles. Committee noted: 'there was no provision in the Gambling Act as there was in the Licensing Act for a cumulative impact zone.' See: https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=1009&MId=11420&Ver=48 November 2023 Licensing and General Purposes Committee: Council responses to consultation submissions presented. Burnt Oak Residents submitted a detailed response providing evidence (from Westminster Council and DCMS White Paper) which proved that it would not be unlawful to perform Cumulative Impact Assessments. This was seemingly accepted by the Officers and also the Committee. Officers indicated it would take 6-12 months to map areas of concern. See: https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=1009&MId=11421&Ver=4 .30 January 2024: Recommendations regarding Cumulative Impact Assessments/Zones (based on Autumn consultation submissions and a more recent submission from the Deputy Director of Health) appear to have been approved by Council (57 For, 1 Abstain, 5 Absent). See: https://barnet.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=162&MId=11446&Ver=413 June 2025: Pakeezah Rahman (Principal Governance Officer) provides information on progress:-Insight and intelligence Team identified a requirement to improve the management and reporting of data from the licensing case management system.-System changes need to be made.-Work arounds were being investigated.-Interactive map would not be available until later in the year.21 Oct 2025: Administration motion indicates that the national government includes powers for local authorities to use 'Cumulative Impact Assessments' when considering granting of licenses.November 2025: Licensing and General Purposes Committee Forward Plan indicates that the Committee will 'approve [on 1 June 2026] the Gambling Statement of Principles [January 2027-January 2030] for consultation being reported in November 2026'.(B) FOI QueriesGiven that the Council has now had roughly two years to conduct analysis and improve data collection, it should be two years ahead of where it would have been had no intervention been made by residents in Autumn 2023. Therefore:(1) What was the exact nature of 'system changes' that needed to be made (referred to on 13 June 2025) and have they now been made?(2) What improvements to management and reporting of data from/by the licensing case management system needed to be made and have they now been made?(3) If workarounds were identified and implemented are these now no longer needed and if they are needed what are the nature of these workarounds?(4) Are there any other infrastructure barriers preventing adequate Cumulative Impact Assessments from being performed by the Council and if so, what are they and when does the Council believe that it can start to perform them (as per the Council decision of January 2024)?(5) When will residents be able to view the efforts of the Insight & Intelligence and Licensing Teams (independently of an application being made)? I.e. will maps and analysis be available to view (in the same way that they are for other London Boroughs)?
Outcome / Documents
- Response (all information to be supplied) - application/pdf - Download