How to Make a Licensing Representation
A practical guide to submitting an effective formal representation against the premises licence application for an Adult Gaming Centre at 39 Church Road, Ashford.
Anyone can make a representation against a premises licence application. This guide explains how to do it properly so your representation carries weight.
Step 1: Find the Application
The application is held by Spelthorne Borough Council. You can find it on their licensing applications page, listed as Golden Slots (Ashford) — 39 Church Road, Ashford, Surrey TW15 2QF.
You will find the application itself, the Local Area Risk Assessment (LARA), floor plans, and the link to object.
Step 2: Grounds for Your Representation
Under the Gambling Act 2005, representations must relate to one or more of the three licensing objectives. The three objectives are:
- Preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder: Address whether the premises could attract or generate crime, disorder, or antisocial behaviour in the surrounding area.
- Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way: This covers transparency in how the machines operate and whether players can make informed decisions.
- Protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling: This is the strongest ground for this application. The proposed site is within 1km of multiple schools, family support services, and supported housing. Category D machines in AGCs are legally accessible to children — this is not a theoretical risk.
The key arguments page sets out the evidence-based case under each of these objectives.
Not grounds for objection
- Moral objections to gambling: The Gambling Act places a legal duty on local authorities to “aim to permit” gambling. Objections must be linked to one of the three licening objectives above.
Step 3: Keep it Clear and Specific
Licensing officers read many representations. Make yours easy to read:
- One paragraph per argument
- Reference the licensing objectives explicitly by name
- Use bullet points for lists of evidence
- Reference the risk map or the council’s own LARA data where relevant
- State your connection to the area (resident, parent of a child at a nearby school, etc.)
- Keep the total length to 2000 characters.
- Ashford Residents Association have produced templates to use if you’d like an easy to use route to getting your objections across.
Step 4: Submit Before the Deadline
The deadline for representations on the Ashford application is 18 June 2026. Representations submitted after this date will not be considered.
You can submit your representation:
- Online via the Gambling Licence Representation Form on the council’s self-service portal
- By email to [email protected], attaching the completed Representation Form
- By post to the Licensing Team, Spelthorne Borough Council, Knowle Green, Staines-upon-Thames, TW18 1XB
Step 5: Spread the Word
Each individual representation counts separately. Share this site with neighbours, local schools, places of worship, and community groups. The more individual voices heard, the stronger the signal to the Licensing Committee.
What Happens Next
Once the consultation closes, the Licensing team reviews all representations. If valid representations have been submitted, the application goes to a Licensing Committee hearing of elected councillors, who decide whether to grant or refuse the licence.
Ready to write? Use the template objection letters as a starting point.