Harlesden and Kensal Green Labour councillors have posted a Facebook comment on the approval of another Adult Gaming Centre by Brent Planning Committee.
We continue to stand up for the residents of #Harlesden and #KensalGreen who are fed up with our neighbourhood being targeted by gambling companies. This week Cllr Chan spoke at the Planning Committee in opposition to the application from Silvertime for a new high street casino on Park Parade, and Cllr Kelcher spoke at Licensing Committee in opposition to the application from Merkur for a new bingo site on the High Street. Unfortunately, the law as it currently operates severely limits the ability of Councils to block these facilities, which is why we’re campaign at a national level.
A little local history...
Plans for a Las Vegas style £320m casino and hotel complex for Wembley Park was put forward by Quintain and Caesars Entertainment back in 2004. Quintain were not happy when it was turned down:
24 August 2006
Developer Quintain is forced to put forward alternative plan following Brent council's decision
The London Borough of Brent has withdrawn its support for a regional casino in the area meaning developer Quintain will have to progress with alternative plans on the proposed site.
Quintain’s joint venture with Caesar’s Entertainment has now lapsed as the developer will need to come up with an alternative plan for the site which is capable of accommodation up to 203,000 sq m of development.
Nick Shattock, Quintain’s deputy chief executive said: “We are not surprised by this turn of events. Of course, we were aware that both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives campaigned on an electoral ticket to stop the regional casino coming to Brent. Obviously, when they formed a joint administration in July, excluding the Labour party members, who had made the application, there was an increasing air on inevitability of this course of action.”
April 2012
QUINTAIN Estates and Development is confident of winning Government approval to build a new super-casino at Wembley.
Nick Shattock, Quintain's property director, said he was 'OKî with the Government's latest backtracking on the number of large casinos it would allow nationwide, down to eight at the last count.
He said: 'If it is eight there is just a bigger prize to be chased.’Quintain unveiled plans in October to build a £335 million gambling and leisure resort on land it owns near the new Wembley stadium in a joint venture with Las Vegas casino owner Caesars Entertainment.
The developer would split the cost with Las Vegas casino owner, Caesars Entertainment in a joint venture to transform a 650,000-square-foot site on the land around the stadium owned by Quintain.
The plans for the complex include a 400 room hotel, a casino to house 110 gaming tables and 1,250 slot machines, numerous restaurants, shops and a performance area.
Typical incompetent Labour. When in Government they push for expansion for Gambling by allowing Big Gambling companies exploit people to make big profits and destroy lives and when it goes wrong they cry crocodile tears. It was the Blair Labour Government that caused of the damage and now that the horse has bolted and the damage has been done Labour Councillors start posturing. It is time residents in Kensal Green and Harlesden realised that it was Labour who are responsible for the damage in their area and kicked Labour out.
ReplyDeleteYes it was the Labour Party that kick-started the UK gambling addiction, see below, so no wonder so many gambling and gaming centres have been allowed to open by Labour run Brent Council
ReplyDelete"The gambling boom was kicked off when Tony Blair’s Labour government passed the Gambling Act 2005, dramatically liberalising the laws governing betting. The late Tessa Jowell, who pioneered the legislation, later described this as one of her biggest regrets."
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jan/16/how-britain-got-the-gambling-bug
Pleased that some Labour Councillors mow have the guts to stand up against this - let's hope other Labour Councillors support this move across the whole of Brent!
Next should also be the number of places getting alcohol licences - not every local shop should be able to sell alcohol, it is not a necessity.
How much money is lost to gambling and drinking, and cleaning up street drinkers litter?
Our society deserves better!
Second that.
DeleteLabour Councillors do NOT have the guts. All they are doing is complaining and POSTURING. They should resign in protest - that would send a real message to the Labour Government that enough is enough. Don't expect them to make a real principles stand though and only by kicking Labour out from areas which they take for granted will the Labour Government get the real message and start listening to local people.
DeleteIt is the role of the council to regenerate town centres, to create environments welcoming to a range of business and social enterprises. Just because they’re doing nothing for harlesden as they only care about wealthy areas with a second word being park (queens park, wembley park) they can’t be blaming the law, when it is them
ReplyDeleteWembley is full of betting shops and gaming centres - wish our councillors here would object to them opening here.
ReplyDeleteWhen was the last one opened?
DeleteFairly recently despite police, the school and others objecting
DeleteWhere?
DeleteWhat came of the Quintain application?
ReplyDeletes far as I can ascertain it was never followed through.
ReplyDeleteTaxes from betting end up helping to cover the costs of supporting vulnerable families where the parents are problem gamblers and problem drinkers - vicious circle that only the huge betting companies and alcohol companies really benefit from...
ReplyDelete"People are turning to gambling to help them with the cost of living crisis – from trying to win money to pay bills to using betting shops as warm banks, a gambling charity has said.
The charity GamCare said that while this was likely to exacerbate financial stresses, research found four in 10 (42%) problem gamblers believed gambling would improve their financial situation in the next year compared with just 7% of UK adults.
The YouGov survey of 4,202 adults commissioned by the charity also found that one in six people gambling at harmful levels had used a warm bank in the past 12 months compared with 5% of the general population, while half of parents who are problem gamblers were going without food or clean clothes to support children, compared with 20% of parents overall."
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/09/cost-of-living-crisis-increase-problem-gambling-uk-gamcare
In 2006 Labour were kicked out of power in Brent. The Liberal Democrats did not have an overall majority but we did have the largest number of Councillors. I was fortunate to become the Leader of Brent Council and the first thing we did was to ask local people what they thought of the Labour decision to allow a Super Casino in Wembley. Local people said NO. We listened and the Wembley Casino idea was scrapped. The development in Wembley did get a Cinema, Restaurants and the outlet shopping centre which residents preferred.
ReplyDeleteWhat else happened in the 2000s
DeleteWise words ...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.hemingwaydesign.co.uk/blog/its-time-wage-war-betting-shops-and-mini-casinos-blight-our-high-streets/