Laser tag venue at 10 Red Lion Square, London SW18

“Councillor Sarah Davies, Ward Councillor for Wandsworth Town, addressed the Committee on behalf of local residents and raised the following points: • There was no through traffic on the site and it felt like a pedestrianised area. The roads and pavements outside Jessica House and into Hardwick Square were not Council owned.”

“If the Committee were minded to approve the application, residents asked for conditions to be considered as follows; proof be obtained and shared with the residents that their rights to good residential amenity would not be adversely affected, including acoustic and vibration reports; the hours of operation not exceed 5.30pm, with no operation on Sundays and bank holidays; deliveries limited to one hour a day once a week during normal working hours; no additional parking…”

“One of the benefits of the proposal would be to bring that site back into use within the town centre location. The Area Team Manager (West) noted that the Environmental Health Officer was not satisfied with the information first submitted by the applicant, and the applicant had been asked to submit a site specific noise impact assessment and noise management plan which had been submitted.”

“The hours of operation were limited until 8pm, and outside of school term the operating hours would be between 10am and 6pm. In terms of amenity impact, officers were satisfied that the proposal would operate within the bounds of the conditions without impact on the neighbours. There was no additional parking proposed; the operators had 3 parking spaces, including 1 disabled space.”

“It was questioned if any site specific vibration assessment was undertaken and whether the proposal complied with London Plan policies D13 and D14 regarding vibration and noise. The Area Team Manager (West) referred to the extent of the assessments undertaken as part of the noise assessment report, which had been assessed by the Council’s Environmental Health Officer.”

“A Member referred to paragraph 4.12 on page 60 of the agenda pack that states “that vibrations transmission had not been specifically assessed, as it was not considered likely to give rise to significant impacts” due to the nature of the proposed use. It was questioned what the situation would be if the usage changed in the future, such as different types of machines or activity being used, in relation to vibration in the building.”

“In respect of the concerns raised about vibrations, the Area Team Manager (West) commented that condition 4 had been recommended to ensure that any items as part of the fixture be attached to the floor rather than the walls or structure to limit any vibrations through the building. The Environmental Health Officer did not have issue with the vibration and had recommended the condition to limit the movement of vibration.”

“A Member referred to the amount of local opposition to the proposal and suggested that a limited time be set, such as planning permission be granted for 2 years, as had been suggested on another application, noting that there would not be much capital expenditure on this application.”

“The Legal Advisor did not agree that these circumstances applied to this application and that the hours requested were reasonable. There were extensive proposed internal works relating to further sound insulation and the Environmental Health Officer was content with what was being proposed. Councillor Belton moved that the application be granted on a 2 years basis, however as this proposal was not seconded, Members did not vote on this proposal.”

“RESOLVED - (5 for, 4 against and 1 abstention, with the Chair having a casting vote) that planning permission be granted as set out in the report, subject to the inclusion of the following: (1) an additional planning condition requiring the submission of a delivery and servicing plan to control the manner and timings of deliveries.”