Hansart Court residents sign letter objecting to amusement arcade yards from their homes

The proposed location of the amusement arcade.

Story by: MAGGIE GIBSON

ELDERLY and vulnerable residents of a flats complex in March are fighting plans to open an amusement arcade just yards from their homes.

All residents of the 20 flats in Hansart Court, some in their 80s and 90s have signed a letter of objection to Fenland District Council.

A Peterborough-based company wants to open the arcade in part of Marcam House, 4 and 6 Station Road.

Its first application failed because of threatened loss of a retail frontage.

The company believes it can open the arcade while retaining the front part of one unit as a shop and the adjoining premises for retail purposes.

On Monday March Town Council's planning committee recommended the application be refused. The recommendation was unanimous.

Councillor John West, the Mayor of March, who was at the meeting and has listened to concerns and fears of the residents, said: "We will fight this all the way. The message should be loud and clear that we do not want this kind of thing in March."

He said: "People in Hansart Court have every right to feel threatened by what is going on.

"If this goes ahead it is going to cause problems and they will be in for a very bad time.

"We have already refused this once and they have come back a second time. As far as I am concerned this sort of thing is targeted at young people of the town and will put more pressure on them and parents to find the money to fund them being there."

Cllr West said the site should be considered as part of a larger area for regeneration.

In their letter to the council, residents said: "The applicants do not believe there will be any increase in anti-social behaviour. We would strongly refute that because although the premises are scheduled to close at 10pm there could be residual disturbance much later."

One resident said: "People are exceedingly worried about this and some are very fearful of what might happen.