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.
