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Vulnerable targeted
• IN an area used by many schoolchildren and vulnerable people with mental health issues and one recently selected for the siting of a family planning clinic, the proposal to turn a shop in Junction Road, Archway, into a gambling arcade is a potentially damaging development for this district centre.
The site is a key one in a shopping parade close to a bus stop and the entrance to the new health facility as well as being opposite or adjacent to a children’s centre, church and dentist, which attract young families and children. The bus stop is used by schoolchildren.
The site could almost have been chosen to target the vulnerable (but, of course, it was, since easy access to the vulnerable is exactly what slot machine gambling arcades rely upon).
However, gambling legislation does still let communities have a say and is supposed to allow us to protect the vulnerable – so let’s do that.
The proposed change of use will diminish the character and appearance of the area by introducing an activity which will actively deter higher-quality businesses from opening.
I urge the council’s planning committee to think about the local impact of this key site becoming part of a degeneration of this vibrant but vulnerable area of Islington, an area which the council has promised to help regenerate – rather than allow to degenerate further.
This committee can make a difference for our community – for good or ill. Please take a decision which helps protect our community, not one that will help destroy it.
CHRIS BAILEY
Harberton Road, N19
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