Council reject plans for an arcade and coffee shop in town

HK Arcade T/A Funtura applied to change the use of a ground floor retail unit, the former Poundland shop next to McDonald’s, to part retail selling toys, part arcade and part coffee shop. The application has been refused by Luton Council.

A case officer visited the site and recommended the application for refusal, in the notes it said: “The development, as indicated on plan numbers DC01, ATK/18/UK/TP1 and ATK/18/UK/TP2, in further reducing the provision of retail floorspace within the primary shopping frontage and in resulting in more than two non-A1 units being adjacent to one another, would contribute towards the erosion of the primary retail purpose of Luton town centre. No pre-application advice was sought by the applicant.

“The principle of development would be unacceptable and the scheme would cause harm to the character of the surrounding area.

A spokesman for Funtura said: “Council has reject the planning permission, we are working towards appeal now.”