RUISLIP High Street will not be getting a bingo hall, councillors have decided.
A planning application submitted in August for the building next to Tesco had failed to win much support during the past few months, with many people in the area saying they knew nothing about it.
At a planning meeting last Thursday, permission for the scheme was denied after opponents spoke out.
Sue Browne, of Kingsend, said: "People feel that the High Street should be for retail outlets, and this obviously would have meant the loss of one. It is in a prime location next to the Tesco and that is why we petitioned against the change of use."
The bingo hall would have provided jobs for five people. Mrs Browne said that while it was good that five jobs could have been created, people felt that a retail outlet taking over the site would provide even more.
"Not enough people knew about the application, but everybody I mentioned it to was complaining about it, and so I decided to set up a petition," she said. "There was a small piece in the Gazette, but the consultation only asked people living above the shops, even though it is people coming from across Ruislip and even Ickenham who use the High Street who should have a say."
There is also uncertainty about the future of an amusement arcade which was planning to move sites but may be left with nowhere to go.
The owners of Amusement Arcade, at 70 High Street,were hoping to move to number 80, so their application to revert to a retail store was accepted. But their application to change the use of number 80 for a non-retail site was rejected, on the basis that it is next to the bank, another non-retail site.
