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UK
Casino Times
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News
18 March 2006
Casino Plans Put Residents In A
Spin
Plans
which would allow round-the-clock gambling at a mega-casino
on the site of a former nightclub at Fountainbridge have
sparked protests.
Stanley
Casino, which is
behind the plans for the massive new casino at Fountainpark
on the site of the controversial Eros/Elite nightspot, has
applied to the council for a restriction on opening hours to
be removed.
This would effectively
give unlimited opening hours to the casino, something which
has raised concerns from residents worried about late-night
noise.
But despite their
objections, and those of the nearby Gorgie/Dalry Community
Council, the council's planning department has recommended
the application be granted.
Stanley Casinos says it
needs the condition removed to allow a licensing application
for the casino, which could seat more than 1000 people, to
open at standard casino hours of 2pm to 6am. The firm
insists it has no plans to operate the casino on a 24-hour
basis. But many residents want the council to retain the
planning condition which would give them more control over
the opening hours.
And they are also
concerned that granting unlimited opening hours would set a
dangerous precedent in what is primarily a residential
area.
The site will become one
of the city's largest gaming venues if it is granted a
licence, although a previous attempt was blocked when it was
pointed out that the applicants had not provided the
licensing department with the correct address for the
proposed casino.
Clive Fenton, secretary of
the Gorgie/Dalry Community Council, said: "We are not
objecting to the idea of a casino itself, but we do have a
serious concern about his move to allow them unrestricted
opening hours. This is unprecedented in the area as far as I
am aware, and regardless of what they say it will lead to
people coming and going at all hours. Obviously you can't
really know what the problems will be until the casino has
opened, but this is a residential area and we believe that
this will cause problems."
The new development would
feature a new entrance and 2700 square metres of gaming
floor, and would be the latest addition to the large leisure
complex which already boasts a cinema, health club, bowling
alley and restaurants.
Householder Alistair Cant,
who lives in nearby Hartington Place, also wrote to object
to the application, saying people using the casino would
generate late night noise and disturbances.
He said: "They will be
likely to drink, to be in an excited or depressed mood when
they leave and are as likely as any other late-night
reveller to cause a disturbance."
Sotos Scholarios, Stanley
Casino's operations director for Scotland and the North of
England, said: "We are applying for this planning condition
to be dropped in order to go for the standard operating
hours for a casino, which is 2pm until 6am.
"We have no wish to run a
24-hour casino and I don't think there is any demand for one
here, but we do want to be able to run to the same hours as
other casinos in Edinburgh."
Eros and Elite, the
£5 million nightclub which opened in 1999, quickly
became one of the city's most notorious venues.
It was repeatedly
threatened with having its licence suspended, and came under
fire in 2003 after police highlighted scores of sickening
attacks by bouncers and fights among clubbers
themselves.
The club closed down in
2004.
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