BRADFORD Council is likely to raise the cost of gambling premises licenses in the district.

Nest week the Council's Licensing Committee will agree the fees to run venues such as betting shops and bingo halls for the coming year.

Members will be advised to raise the fees by two per cent in line with inflation.

A report going to the committee says the fee increase "will ensure that the licensing service continues to recover its reasonable costs of processing applications, on-going compliance checks and maintenance of statutory public registers."

Currently new betting shops have to pay a fee of £2398, and if the new fees are approved this will rise to £2,445.

The annual fee for a betting shop licence will rise from £554 to £565.

The panel meets in City Hall at 10am next Tuesday.