Fears over 24-hour betting centre in Walsall after spate of violent incidents
An alleged murder and a spate of other violent incidents in Walsall town centre have prevented a slot machine business from opening a new 24-hour facility there.
Chief superintendent Phil Dolby, of Walsall Police, made an 11th-hour objection to Luxury Leisure’s plan to relocate from Bradford Place to the former Luda Walsall building in Park Street.
He raised concerns about the impact the centre would have if it was allowed to operate for 24 hours, seven days a week in an area still reeling from the alleged murder of 20-year-old Bailey Atkinson on January 28.
Members of Walsall Council’s planning committee permitted Luxury Leisure to open at the premises but under the restricted hours of 10am to 2am. Officers had originally recommended it for approval as a 24-hour venture.
The company’s existing Bradford Place venue has a 24-hour licence and regional operations director James Sturgess said ‘they had never had any issues of anti-social behaviour there’.
He added their staff were highly trained and added no alcohol would be served on the premises.
But councillor Suky Samra said: “Very rarely do we get the police comment on an application and this is the chief superintendent of Walsall who has put this objection on these premises.
“I think it will be a considerable amount of time before we sort the town centre out and if these premises were to relocate – and this is about these premises and not the one they’re already running – they should close at 2am.
“I think we have a duty here on crime and disorder and it would be wrong for this committee to disregard the comments of the chief superintendent of Walsall.”
Ward councillor Aftab Nawaz said: “The current premises are 24 hours but if that was to come to us today as a new application would we accept it?
“I think, when you look at the scheme of things, Walsall town centre needs support and we need to support the police as well.
“The police have been very clear they need us to work with them to try and get rid of the nighttime crime in the town centre.
“I don’t think this will be very helpful and I think it would be detrimental to the fear of crime within Walsall.
“People already are saying they don’t want to come into the town centre because of what happened and it’s our job as elected members to take that on board.”
Councillor Mark Statham added it would be “irresponsible” of the committee to ignore Chief Superintendent Dolby’s concerns.
But not everyone was in agreement with Councillor Anthony Harris saying the issue was about police capacity and the lack of officers in the town.
And Councillor Bobby Bains said: “I think it would be rather unfair on the adult gaming community to make them stop at this site at 2am and then go to another centre where they can play their games.
“With respect to the chief superintendent, I think it’s a decision after the recent event. However, the clientèle of this gaming centre wouldn’t reflect the disorderly nature that happens in the town.
“It’s probably got less of a crime rate than supermarkets that open 24 hours.”
Committee chairman and council leader Mike Bird said: “It isn’t something that’s just been generated by the horrific murder.
“This has been an ongoing problem for the last 12 months at least and as a result, the police did request we have a barrier in Ablewell Street because of the issues there.
“It isn’t something that is just a knee-jerk reaction.”
Mr Sturgess said they had only received the police comments two hours before Thursday’s meeting.
When asked if Luxury Leisure would still want to relocate to Park Street, he said it was something they would need to consider but at this stage, they still wanted to.
