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Cllr Phil Kelly: ‘frustrated’ |
Arcade’s ‘treble chance’ bid triumphs
Planners fail to block conversion of former pub they fear will lure customers with £500 wins
FRUSTRATED councillors have reluctantly allowed a gaming arcade in the former Nag’s Head pub to be split into three after failing to find any grounds for refusal.
Councillors on Islington Council’s east area planning committee – concerned about the spread of gambling – searched desperately for a way to prevent Agora Amusements converting part of the building into an electronic bingo hall and possibly a betting or pawn shop on Monday.
But they were unable to find a legitimate ground on which to turn down the application.
Agora is already locked in a battle with the Town Hall’s licensing panel, which last year refused to accept that the building could be considered as three premises, which would effectively have tripled the allocation of high-value machines on-site to 12. Critics fear the bigger-payout machines will be used to entice customers at a time of growing financial hardship.
An independent inspector later agreed with Islington’s argument that the former Nag’s Head pub was effectively one site but Agora is taking the issue to a judicial review at the High Court.
Now, councillors fear the latest planning approval will give Agora grounds to return to the licensing committee to apply for three gaming licences, on the grounds that the building is now officially three separate premises.
The change in the building’s planning status to D2, which represents places of assembly such as swimming pools and gyms, means it can now be used as a bingo hall. However, instead of the traditional bingo associated with social clubs, Agora’s version will include eight bingo machines offering prizes that could be as high as £500 – the same value as the Vegas-style gaming machines the company wants to triple in number.
A second application considered on Monday asked to change part of the building for financial services use, which could be a bank, estate agent, betting shop or pawnbroker.
As councillors Phil Kelly, Theresa Debono, John Gilbert and Katie Dawson searched for ways to stop the increase in gambling machines at the Holloway Road building, officers told them: “There isn’t a planning reason not to recommend this.”
Holloway Labour councillor Barry Edwards asked the committee to defer the decision pending the outcome of the forthcoming judicial review, adding: “They are trying to have more machines. It’s an artificial division to try to contravene the will of Parliament.
“If it’s an electronic bingo hall, it would appear to me they would be entitled to have eight machines with £500 prizes on them.
“It’s not the friendly bingo we’re used to where people get together for a cup of tea. This is very different.”
Lib Dem councillor John Gilbert said: “In planning terms, if you have people sitting at individual machines, that doesn’t sound like assembly.”
But Robert Gillard, speaking on behalf of Agora, said: “The bingo hall aims to attract more mature customers. There are machines, except these customers play bingo.”
Lib Dem councillor Tracy Ismail said: “It’s almost like Agora are hedging their bets. They’re covering all their bases. They could come back and say the premises are already split.”
She asked if the building would partly become a pawn shop, adding: “People could be running out of money in the arcade, then go out to pawn their watch and go back and spend even more money. It’s very frustrating. It certainly won’t add anything to the area.”
Cllr Kelly, the Labour committee chairman, said: “I’m frustrated because it appears that between the council’s licensing and planning powers we can’t control the spread of gaming in Islington. We can continue to lobby the government and we are revising the licensing policy for gambling and alcohol so we can use saturation as a criterion for decision-making.
“Agora is well-resourced. They deal with local authorities across the country, they have top lawyers. Officers told us if we turn it down they will take it to the next level and cost a lot of money. But we can change the licensing policy. We’re extremely frustrated that the powers and policies didn’t allow us to turn this down.”
Agora was given permission to open from 7am to midnight, but will still have to apply for a licence for any additional machines.
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