In the UK, Labour councillors in Tower Hamlets are campaigning to increase local authority powers to control the spread of betting shops.
At a council meeting at the end of April, the group urged Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman to sign up to a cross-borough and cross-party request to the government that would give local councils a bigger say and veto in planning laws.
The Sustainable Communities Act allows councils to make proposals to government for changes in the law. This would help them respond to the feelings of local residents opposed to the spread of the gambling industry and large supermarket chains on the High Street. The Labour Mayor of Hackney, Jules Pipe, is using the Act to ask the government to create a specific planning category for betting shops.
The drive and initiative for these changes and the Act itself have been developed by pressure from the Local Works campaign and is being run by the Unlock Democracy pressure group. Since the council vote, Local Works has set up a campaign website urging its supporters to persuade Mayor Rahman to take action.
At present, 19 other London boroughs have signed up, including the East London boroughs of Lewisham, Croydon and Hackney.
