The online petition opposing a new gambling arcade in the centre of Palmers Green has now attracted just short of 4000 signatures in less than two weeks. The group of residents who first raised the alarm have christened their campaign Stop the Slot! and are continuing to question Enfield Council about the circumstances in which a "bingo premises licence" was issued at the start of year to Merkur Slots to allow them to open a new arcade near the former Store 21 shop in Green Lanes. They will be asking all petition signatories to contact their councillors and will be giving interviews to local papers.
No bingo after midnight, but gaming machines are available for use
It now appears that the licence does indeed allow them to operate round the clock, even though "bingo" is only permitted up to midnight,
The campaigners have now been sent a copy of the licence which was issued on 4th January. When they raised the question of the following confusing wording:
PART 2 - Default conditions attaching to bingo premises licences
1. Subject to paragraph 2, no facilities for gambling shall be provided on the premises between the hours of midnight and 9am.
2. The condition in paragraph 1 (Part 2) shall not apply to making gaming machines available for use
they received the following "clarification" from principal licensing officer Ellie Green:
Dear Ms Rose
I am happy to clarify your further queries.
Bingo facilities in bingo premises may not be offered between the hours of midnight and 9am. However, there are no restrictions on access to gaming machines in bingo premises.
Therefore unless specified times are specified in the application form, the default position is 24 hours.
In addition to the standard conditions, Enfield's licensing officers have added the following stipulations:
1. The premises shall install and maintain a comprehensive CCTV system. All entry and exit points must be covered enabling frontal identification of every person entering in a light condition including customer facing areas. The CCTV system shall continually record whilst the premises are open. All recordings shall be stored for a minimum period of 31 days with date and time stamping. Subject to data protection legislation, recordings shall be made available upon the request of Police or authorised officer of the Licensing Authority.
2. A staff member from the premises who is conversant with the operation of the CCTV system shall be in the premises at all times when the premises is open.
3. Notices shall be prominently displayed within the premises stating that CCTV is in operation.
4. An incident log shall be kept at the premises and made available on request to an authorised officer of the Licensing Authority or the Police. Details to include:
(a) all crimes reported to the venue
(b) all ejections of patrons
(c) any complaints received concerning crime and disorder
(d) any incidents of disorder
(e) all seizures of drugs or offensive weapons
(f) any visit by a relevant authority or emergency service.
(g) any attempts by children and young persons to gain access to the premises to gamble
(h) any Challenge 25 Refusals.
5. A Think 25 proof of age scheme shall be operated at the premises where Any person who appears to be under 25 years of age, and who has not previously provided satisfactory proof to the contrary, is challenged at the point of entry. Acceptable forms of identification are recognised photographic identification cards, such as a driving licence, passport or proof of age card with the PASS Hologram.
6. A record of refusals shall be kept on the premises and completed when necessary. This record shall contain the date and time of the refusal, a description of the customer, the name of the staff member who made the refusal and the reason for the refusal. This record shall be made available to Police and/or the Local Authority upon request and shall be kept for at least one year from the date of the last entry.
7. The licensee shall provide induction training to all staff on the specific local risks to the licensing objectives that have been identified for these premises.
8. Refresher training shall take place at least every six months on the specific local risks to the licensing objectives.
9. All training shall be documented and records kept at the premises. These records shall be made available to the Police and/or Local Authority upon request and shall be kept for at least one year.
10. Staff shall have a clear view of the entrance from the sales desk and shall circulate the premises to enable good visibility and supervision of the machines and premises.
Contacting councillors
The campaigners' next move will be to contact people who have signed the petition and ask them to write to the councillors. They will supply the following template:
Dear
We are calling on Enfield Council to re-open the Licence Application consultation for the premises 292/292a Green Lanes N.13 5TW, made by Merkur Slots under the Gambling Act 2005 .This licence was granted by the council during a period of exceptional circumstances, (the Corona Virus pandemic), when London was being subjected to considerable restrictions with the expectation and instructions that people stay at home.
This, combined with ward councillors not bringing the application to the attention of their constituents and local community groups, resulted in local people being unaware of the application and unable to object in the allocated time. This has denied local people and businesses the opportunity to have their views represented and the licence was agreed without taking this evidence into an account so constituting a serious failure of local accountability and democracy. We are also concerned that an adult gaming centre will increase antisocial behaviour in the area and will pose a considerable risk to children and vulnerable adults.
Yours sincerely
People can find and contact their local councillor by clicking on the link www.writetothem.com
Could councillors be more supportive
As reported last week, the campaign has received messages of support from Councillors Mary Maguire, Dinah Barry and Nesil Caliskan (the council leader, who sent a letter to PG residents). However, they say they have still not heard from the remaining two Palmers Green ward councillors, Tim Leaver and Ahmet Oykener. Enfield Southgate MP Bambos Charalambous has taken the matter up at government level, writing to the communities secretary.
The campaigners have, however, said that they think that the councillors' responses have not been entirely satisfactory:
The councillors’ responses to objections by residents have not addressed the crucial point that we were not allowed to leave our homes (due to the pandemic), during the period of consultation, and therefore did not see the licence application notice and consequently were not given the opportunity to object. We urge them to respond to this issue."
However, this question was taken up by Bambos Charalambous MP - it was one of the points that he raised with the communities secretary.
PGC reader Neil Littman has pointed to a case where another council turned down a licensing application by Merkur.
There have been more readers' contributions to the PGC forums, which you can read here.
