A SHOWMAN’S bid to open a controversial adult gaming centre in a former town centre shop will be given the once over when a planning inspector pays a visit to the site.

Henry Danter appealed Monmouthshire Council’s refusal of planning permission at the start of the year, claiming the decision to deny the go ahead on the conservation zone corner of Monmouth’s Agincourt Square and Monnow Street was “not credible and biased”.

The council’s licensing department had previously given Mr Danter - the Symonds Yat West-based owner of Barry Island Pleasure Park – a gaming licence for the property.

But planners shot down his slot machine arcade bid after a storm of protest that saw 400 people sign a petition opposing the scheme, and nearly 300 objection letters and emails.

Planning & Environment Decisions Wales said the inspector would visit the site “unaccompanied by the parties… no later than the week commencing August 15”.

Mr Danter, who also owns Symonds Yat Leisure Park, wants to change the use of the old DS Music store to the Carousel gaming centre at the top of the Monnow Street pinch-point, overlooking the town’s historic Shire Hall.

Council planners refused permission last August on the grounds that it would harm the “vitality, attractiveness and viability” of the central shopping area and town centre, and raised doubts over how it intended to attract customers.

Appealing the decision, the 78-year-old showman says he has owned the building – currently displaying window-sized adverts for Barry Island – for more than 30 years and previously ran a “very successful wine bar” there.

He claims the council was wrongly “swayed” by comments from people who simply don’t want an arcade in Monmouth, and is ready to speak “face to face” to put his case at a public hearing. The showman also says he is happy to open under a temporary planning license to “prove that the business can operate in harmony within the historic boundaries of Monmouth and survive.”

In his appeal statement, Mr Danter says “every effort was made to sell or lease” the building after the music business decided to leave, but without success.

He also “objected most strongly” to the council’s argument about “footfall”, saying the two high street adult gaming centres he owns in Stourport-on-Severn town centre both had “comparable” footfall with any other shop there.

“It is not realistic to keep letting shops out as charity outlets… Surely some footfall is better than no footfall,” he added, and rejected claims that the arcade would cause “local disturbance”.

“I own and operate many adult gaming centres in many settings, including town centres, service stations and amusement parks.

“The licence to operate was granted after careful consideration as to my ability to operate properly,” he continues.

“The industry is very highly regulated and suggestions… about attracting children of school age and the vulnerable are completely untrue.”

The town council and chamber of trade both opposed the change of use last year, and Monmouth MP David Davies also weighed in, saying there were concerns from constituents that pupils from the town’s three secondary schools could be enticed into gambling by the presence of the arcade.

The chamber also blasted the scheme as “completely inappropriate” for the “attractive and historic” square next to the Grade II-listed Shire Hall.