Councillors want to put a stop to the rise in betting shops and estate agents.
Is Kingston being overrun with betting shops and estate agents? That is the view of Conservative leader Howard Jones, who will tonight put forward a motion calling for local councils to be given greater powers when it comes to choosing what shops go on the high street. Coun Jones wants the council to team up with other London boroughs and lobby MPs and ministers for “more control over planning in these important local areas”.
The number of betting shops and estate agents on the UK’s high streets has risen in recent years, as a result of both the economic climate and a loophole in current planning laws. Betting shops and estate agents are classed in the same category as banks and building societies, and means such businesses can move into empty bank buildings without applying for a change of use. Coun Jones said councils should be allowed to oppose such developments if the area is already “well served” by those business.
But Liberal Democrat councillor Chrissie Hitchcock accused the Tories of “playing politics” in the run-up to next year’s local elections. Coun Hitchcock, chair of Kingston’s town neighbourhood committee, licensing committee and planning sub-committee and vice-chair of development control, said: “I agree with the sentiment of the motion, but they know the administration can’t do anything about it.
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