POLICE in Croydon have recommended bookies set up a "betting shop watch" group to protect themselves and residents from crime.
In a similar scheme to the popular PubWatch run by bars and clubs, officers have recommended shops band together to share best practice.
The police have also endorsed the idea of new betting shops joining Safer Croydon Radio (SCR), a Croydon Council-run initiative through which local businesses, such as pubs, clubs and retailers, can come together to tackle business crime.
The recommendations came at a licensing committee meeting on Tuesday night, where a three-year review of the consequences of the 2005 Gambling Act took place, and the council's existing policy was re-adopted in principle.
But Councillor Tony Newman, leader of the Labour group, who has told the Advertiser how betting shops were "taking over the high street", said the recommendations did not go far enough.
He said: "This is a welcome yet very small step in the right direction, but nobody should kid themselves that this is going to be the answer to the problem of betting shops covering the high street.
"I want to see the council taking a much harder view on betting licences. I think the time has come to sort it out.
"I look across the district centres of Croydon and in some cases they are in danger of being overrun by the betting shops.
"I appreciate that much of this is national legislation and it's a planning issue as well as a licensing issue. But a council the size of Croydon should be able to make sure that they are working together more closely to sort out the problem."
A statement from Croydon Council read: "Safer Croydon Radio is a successful and well-established system that many businesses are already signed up for, so the council thinks it appropriate that the police have suggested that new betting shops should become part of the network.
"The PubWatch arrangement has also been successful in Croydon, and we are already trying a similar approach with betting shops in the main town centre. It will certainly make sense."