Readers may remember that having gained planning permission for a 'Bingo Hall' at the former Llouds Bank on the corner of High Road and Walm Lane, Willesden Green, the applicant came back with a new application to turn the former bank premises into an Adult Gaming Centre. LINK
Yesterday's diminished Planning Committee approved the application by 4 votes to one.
Cllr Matt Kelcher, the Committee Chair advised that due to his publicly stated position against the provision of gambling establishments within the borough and to avoid any allegations of bias or pre-determination he would recluse himself. Councillor Johnson had declared a personal disclosable interest and therefore withdrew from the meeting for the consideration of that item.
The possibility of reducing the hours to an 10pm closure, that than the 'night time economy' 11pm limit was discussed but not adopted.
Cllr Dixon was the lone voice against on grounds of the opposition from locoal residents, mpact on a conservation area, not contributing to the vibrancy of the high street and a failure to provide healthy streets amongst others.
56 residents had made submission against the application and Dawn Butler MP (Brent East) made a late intervention that necessitated a Supplementary Report. Butler has raised the issue of the impact on vulnerable Brent residents of so many gambling joints, in the House of Commons.
Officers were rather dismissive:
One further representation with comments has been received raising objection to the proposed development. The objections are from Dawn Butler MP (Labour Member of Parliament for Brent East). The comments that have been raised broadly correspond to those already received and addressed within the Consultations section of the Committee Report. The comments raised refer to existing gambling problems and impacts within the borough. It is suggested that limited information pertaining to the building has been provided, however it is considered that sufficient information has been submitted in line with the Council’s Validation requirements for the purpose of planning assessment.
Finally, the concluding objection is directed to the ‘Licencing Authority’. In response, Licencing is an independent department to Planning within the Council. As well as seeking planning permission the applicant would be required to obtain the relevant licences to operate as an Adult Gaming Centre. An informative to this effect would be included within the Decision Notice.
So next stop is Brent Licensing Committee.
1 comment:
Too little, too late the shops are already all over the place, by the time they get any legislation through it will be too late, it’s not like they’ll be able to force the ones already open to be shut. As for Brent’s planning department well they have been granting these for a while I don’t think it’s a suprise.
But I have a question for readers, if they stop approving gambling shops, what will they get replaced with? Chicken chops and units which house mobile phone shops?
At least the gambling shops maintain their shopfronts - though I am completely against what they stand for! Would be interesting to hear thoughts on this.
They need a strategy, as well end up with empty shops in the high street or just chicken shops!
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