An adult gaming centre can open in a former Barrow shoe shop, despite concerns that it may have an impact on vulnerable people.
Members of Barrow in Furness local area planning committee for Westmorland and Furness Council approved plans lodged by Luxury Leisure to convert the former Shoe Zone on Dalton Road into an Admiral-operated adult gaming centre.
A council planning officer told the committee applications like this were often controversial but added morality issues were more for licensing to consider whereas the committee needed to consider the planning impact of the land use such as noise and disturbance.
Councillor Frank Cassidy (Walney, Labour) said: “I think we do want to see our high streets brightened up by having premises like this brought to life but we don’t really want to see some of our poorer and vulnerable people become even poorer by losing their money on slot machines.
“My question would be are there any measures within the gaming centre to keep an eye on punters to make sure they don’t lose too much money.”
The applicant’s agent Fraser Tinsley told the committee the store will be operated in a responsible way and said if anyone was gambling irresponsibly they would be refused access to the store.
He added at any given time there would be three members of staff who are able to monitor activity via cameras from the central office area.
Initially. Luxury Leisure wanted to operate the centre 24 hours a day. Following opposition from Cumbria Constabulary, it revised opening hours to 7am to 2am.
Cumbria Constabulary said: “These revised hours are more proportionate and better align with other premises contributing to the local night time economy.
“The neighbourhood policing team acknowledges and appreciates this support from the applicant, which will assist Cumbria police and our partners in addressing the anti-social behaviour occurring in the area.”
The applicant’s agent Mr Tinsley told the committee Admiral operate over 280 stores across the UK and said it had been found that adult gaming centres added vibrancy and vitality to town centres.
The applicant said the centre would generate additional footfall in the town centre with survey data and evidence from other Admiral-operated sites suggesting that visits contributed to the success of other surrounding retailers through linked trips.
The planning statement added: “The proposed centre would therefore have positive benefits to the wider town centre through bringing visitors into the town centre who would likely use other local services and facilities.”
It added the former Shoe Zone had been empty for over a year and the proposed centre would sustain the use of a high street premises that was at risk of long-term vacancy.
However, the operator of Bailey’s Amusement’s and Café on Dalton Road told the council it believed it would have to make redundancies if plans were given the go-ahead.
It said there used to be three amusement arcades on Dalton Road in 2007 however two closed down due to lack of business.
Bailey’s Amusement’s and Café said it had cut its opening hours from 9am to 9pm to 9am to 4pm due to lack of footfall.
Barrow Town Council also objected to the proposals and warned they believe the proposed facility would be detrimental to the wellbeing of the town and its residents.
Planning documents submitted by the applicant also look to address potential concerns relating to noise from the site.
Plans say sound insulation is used within all premises to shield surrounding occupiers from any noise and any music played within the premises is always at a background level. The planning statement also states there are no residential properties within a range of the site which could be impacted by noise.
Plans added: “This area of the town centre already has a number of late-night activities such as bars and restaurants. Any noise generation associated with the proposed centre must be seen in this context and, regardless, any noise and disturbance associated with the proposed use would be significantly less than that associated with other evening economy type uses.
“Admiral units do not serve alcohol, nor do they allow the consumption of alcohol on-site. This helps to mitigate the potential for anti-social behaviour and thus further prevent adverse impacts on residential amenity.”
The committee was told the proposed adult gaming centre would create nine jobs in the area.
Members of Barrow in Furness local area planning committee approved the plans yesterday.
