A casino brand has been rejected a planning permission after Waltham residents have recently shared their concerns with the possible negative effects that the casino could have on the area.
Earlier, the Waltham Forest Council received an application filed by Cosmic Casino, with the gambling brand asking for a permission to turn the estate agents Clarke Hillier’s former site into a gambling venue for the local customers. However, the residents have protested against the project, raising the red flag that such a conversion would damage the shopping street’s “viability and vitality”.
Cosmic Casino Application Gets Rejected
As mentioned above, the casino brand has applied for a new casino side planning permission to Waltham Forest Council, but it faced stiff opposition. A total of 25 members of the public objected the application. In addition, four objections from local councillors were also received.
The refusal of the application happened at the meeting of the Waltham Forest Council planning committee on November 7th.
Reportedly, the site owned by Waltham Forest Council is necessary for the Central Parade Redevelopment Project. Now, the casino brand would not be able to move to the new location, due to the concerns of the local people that such a venue would further raise the percentage of residents suffering from gambling addictions and demonstrating behaviour that could be dangerous to the community.
According to the project’s opponents, such a step would affect young individuals and children who live in the residential part of the building above the former real estate agents’ office in a negative way. As mentioned above, they have shared their concerns that the project would influence the local high street’s atmosphere.
Raising Problem Gambling Concerns
The concerns shared but local citizens and councillors about the Cosmic Casino project may not be groundless after all, considering a recent incident in Waltham Forest. About a month ago, the local police sought a gambler who lost his temper and inflicted serious damage at an amusement arcade. The damage caused was estimated to a total of £3,000.
The player was wanted for criminal damage after hitting a gaming machine with a metal stool at Casino Cosmic on September 10th. The aggressive behaviour of the punter came after he lost money on the machine.
So, considering the fact that the incident happened exactly at the Cosmic Casino and taking into account the constantly increasing cases of problem gambling behaviour and gambling-related crimes both in the region and across the country, the decision of the Waltham Forest Council to turn down the casino’s application, was quite logical. Over the last few years, the levels of gamblers who suffer from gambling addictions and become involved in criminal activity due to their addiction, has risen.
According to a report from NatCen, the largest number of problem gamblers were involved in spread betting. The rest of the gambling activities which feature the highest proportions of problem gamblers were betting exchanges, poker games in pubs or clubs, sports betting at bookmakers, as well as fixed-odds betting machines in bookmakers.
- Author
Daniel Williams
