RESIDENTS in Liskeard are concerned about a planning application, made to change the use of a retail shop to an amusement arcade.
The application, for an adult amusement centre, which has been made to Caradon council by Mr Stocke of Stocke Enterprises Ltd, is for a unit at the bottom of Cannon Hill, next to the barbers shop.
The concern is especially evident amongst the elderly residents of Cannon Terrace, Well Lane and Pondbridge Hill. Complaints have already been registered about youngsters congregating at night in the car park, especially in empty parking spaces underneath the Somerfield supermarket building - opposite the unit proposed for the arcade.
A letter has been circulated in the area, pointing out that if the application is approved it will mean the loss of another retail shop, when the town 'needs all the shops it can get to supply the expanding household programme of Liskeard' - with many hundreds of new homes in the offing over the next decade. It has urged 'Save our shops for Shopping'.
Residents have been urged to write to the district and town councils, local MP Colin Breed, and councillor for the area, Dawn Austin, outlining their objections. Mrs Austin said she understood the residents' worries, which include fears that the local crime rate might rise if the go-ahead is given. The matter is likely to go before Caradon's planning sub committee (west) on April 19. The unit in question was previously a sports shop, which has now relocated to Fore Street.