Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Betfred lose their appeal! Yippee!

Fantastic news! The Deptford Dame has just informed me that Bill Ellson at Deptford Miscellaneous has posted about the the Planning Inspectorate's decision to REFUSE Betfred's appeal. 

Suffice to say, the Inspector found the evidence from local residents "compelling" and is allowing the premises to be used for any Class A2 Financial Use EXCEPT as a Betting Shop!

Well done everyone who helped to keep Betfred at bay.

The Dame has now posted the news with some detail.
You can also see the report on Deptford Misc, or go to the Planning Portal and click on 'decision' to download the relevant document.

Update: We sent an email out with the news to petitioners and got some happy responses:

Cool. Well done, great job! Nick • Excellent news! Cllr Bell • Brilliant, well done for alerting everyone. Sue Really great news thanks! Richard Fantastic news! Lea • Why don't we stage a finger nosing parade outside? Marianne • Great news! A step in the right direction. Thanks! Caroline • Well done! Alison Thanks so much for the good news! Susan • Yippee. The system works :-) Gus • That's fantastic, this is what happens when people unite for a worthy cause. Nathan • Great campaign and good news! A little rejoicing here too! Father Paul • That's fantastic news. John • Well done. Emma • Great! Billy Fantastic! :-D Anton • Yes Yes Yes!!! Thank you. Sybar • Blimey! Someone in the planning inspectorate with common sense, perception and decency…Until the maggots at Betfred find a loophole. But meanwhile I agree, Yippee, toot toot! Julian • That is indeed excellent news. RH Joan Ruddock MP • Yahoo even! Good news! Cheryl • Yes yippee! Fantastic news! Well done for seeing this one through Anne • That's amazing – people have the power! If only we had more. Thanks for letting me know, that's great news and really inspiring. Keep on keeping on! Anita • Thanks you for this heartening news! And also thank you for all your hard work in bringing about this great result Nuala • Yeepeeee. All your efforts pay off. Well done. Raj • That's brilliant news Hazel • Great stuff! Mike

4 comments:

  1. Well done for all your hard work, collecting signatures, getting people to object, and blogging extensively on the subject. I'm delighted the efforts paid off.

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  2. Dame, your analysis/understanding of Lewisham's Unitary Development Plans and all that planning stuff was invaluable.

    As regards collecting signatures, thanks should go to Alison at the Albany, Rebecca at the train carriage and Raj and Brenda at Kim's newsagents.

    Special thanks to Gus at Sight Centre who canvassed all the shopkeepers and got them to do letters to Lewisham Planning that contributed to the 89 objections that halted Betfred at the planning stage (which, for those who are late to the story, they then appealed).

    Also thanks to Mari who canvassed West Deptford and to the community at St Paul's, and to everyone who signed petitions and especially those who took the time to write objections. Plus thanks to Sue Luxton and yourself, Dame, for spreading the word on Twitter.

    Most of my time was spent in researching gambling addiction and child poverty resulting in a report that pulled together all the available studies into one document – joining up the dots and linking gambling to crime and poverty. I hope it may have helped persuade the Inspector – if only to guide him to visit the staff at Greggs and find out first hand how people feel.

    Joan Ruddock also referred to my document in her 10 Minute Rule Bill when she finally got round to helping her fellow north London MPs tackle the problem they have been battling for quite some time. Hopefully all the information will be pooled to be shared with other boroughs nationally and all those all-nighters I pulled weren't in vain.

    Meanwhile, no thanks to our local ward councillors who did bugger all, but thanks to the councillors on Lewisham's Licensing Committee who showed support for our campaign despite having their hands tied by the ridiculous Gambling Act.

    A big thank you must go to Fred and David Alyward who started the bloody thing off on New Year's Day when they called me as they were walking past 93-95 Deptford High Street and saw the Notice for Betfred's Gambling License (which Betfred were obviously hoping would slip past anyone's notice during the holiday period)...Happy New Year, indeed.

    And finally, a big thank you to Mr David Smith, the Government Inspector, who heard us all and decided in favour of the people of Deptford.

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  3. Also thanks to Lewisham Planning who turned Betfred down in May, and to the police who were able to give evidence to this appeal (but could not influence Betfred's Gambling License application at the beginning of this year, due to the vagaries of the 2005 Gambling Act).

    Having said all that and collected me Oscar, the pessimist in me dreads what use Betfred will find for the building. Fingers still crossed.

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  4. Big Congrats Sue, Hurrah Fred and Dave, Jolly Good Show Dame and Yippee everyone else - Mari xx

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