An anti-gambling MP has used his voice to encourage the local council to refuse Chongie permission to move into the empty Wilko building and double its footprint. But, was the decision to reject the application legal?
Peterborough City Council has denied Chongie Entertainment Ltd permission to relocate its existing Little Vegas AGC into larger premises in the Hereward Cross Shopping Centre, after the proposal was opposed by the local MP.
Chongie had applied to convert the vacant Wilko site in order to increase its floorspace from 1,000 sq ft to 5,000 sq ft, bringing the unit back into use after two years while subletting its former premises to a new retail use.
“In this respect, the relevant balance of uses in respect to the number of retail units and adult gaming centres on Broadway (and within the city centre) will remain unchanged,” stated the submission. “The applicant will provide a signed legal agreement confirming sub-letting only to a retail use.”
However, the plans had been opposed by local community groups and MP Andrew Pakes, who told Peterborough Today “this is a welcome decision.”
“People are fed up with our streets being turned into the Wild West by gambling shops. I’d like to thank the council for taking such a strong, grounded position in turning this down.”
“Nothing says more about the challenges facing Peterborough than the rise in fruit machine stores and vape shops.”
Actually, nothing says more about the plight of Peterborough’s streets than a gobby MP that has no sense of regeneration and the desperate need to revive the high street economy.
The Wilko demise may have started nine months before Pakes won his wafer thin 118 majority in the general election, but he was warned in May this year of the dire local economy when the Peterborough Telegraph headlined a perspective ‘Retailers who no longer call Peterborough city centre home’.
The article was a message to encourage high street regeneration, not destroy it as Pakes’ intervention to the Chongie application has clearly done.
Way to go Pakesey – just what Peteborough needs, another 4,000 sqf of empty retail space.
