Residents in Umhlanga, led by the Umhlanga Residents and Ratepayers Association, have formally appealed a decision by the eThekwini Municipality to approve a bingo lounge at Umhlanga Plaza.
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Umhlanga residents have formally appealed a decision to allow a large-scale gaming facility in the coastal suburb.
Umhlanga Residents and Ratepayers Association (URRA) spokesperson Terri MacLarty confirmed that residents are fighting the approval, granted by eThekwini Municipality last month, which clears the way for Star Bingo KZN (Pty) Ltd, trading as Kings Gaming & Entertainment, to install more than one hundred electronic bingo machines inside Umhlanga Plaza on Lagoon Drive.
“URRA has appealed the granting of a rezoning application to house a bingo lounge. The planning department has acknowledged our appeal. eThekwini Municipality levied a charge of R5839, which had to be paid in order to appeal. This naturally discouraged the community at large, not to appeal as the amount was unrealistic.”
“In this instance, URRA is supporting our members and the general community whose property will devalue if this is allowed. We are committed to doing the best for our community, to keep our node safe and environmentally attractive for tourism as well, particularly for the international tourists, who frequent our once highly rated tourist haven,” she told IOL.
Residents have also solicited legal representation.
“We are not allowing this on our watch,” added MacLarty.
While Louis Chambi, managing director of Kings Gaming & Entertainment, maintains the venue will function as a “regulated bingo lounge” rather than a casino, residents say it is effectively a gambling hub that has no place on Umhlanga’s main tourism strip.
Chambi said the proposal must be understood in its proper planning context.
“It involves the utilisation of existing commercial premises within an established mixed-use node. The applicable planning framework supports a range of complementary leisure and entertainment uses within such nodes. The approved use accordingly forms part of the mix of activities contemplated for the precinct, rather than an incompatible intervention.”
“The eThekwini Municipality was obviously alive to this, hence the approval of the application. The statutory process required the municipality to assess objections together with the technical input of its specialist departments. The decision was informed by planning, transport, engineering services and other comments placed on record. It is important to state that while concerns were raised by the objectors, no independent technical material was placed before the decision-maker by the objectors that displaced or contradicted those professional assessments,” he explained.
He said the issues raised in objections were identified and considered under the principal themes of traffic and parking, noise and amenity, safety, social considerations, tourism and infrastructure, and were assessed within the applicable planning framework and against the technical material before the municipality.
“The applicant is satisfied that the decision reflects a proper application of the planning framework and the evidentiary record, and remains confident that any appeal will be determined on that same basis,” said Chambi.
eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said all objections received were duly considered, assessed, and evaluated as part of a thorough and structured decision-making process.
“A significant number of submissions were in a petition-style format, where a standard objection letter was completed and signed by multiple property owners. While many of these submissions contained similar content, each was included in the documentation presented to the decision-maker. In such cases, the primary contact person for the petition is engaged directly, while all signatories are formally recorded and considered.”
“The approval granted is for Special Consent and is limited in scope. The proposed use will operate within an existing, approved building footprint. Parking arrangements are accommodated on-site, with dedicated private parking allocated specifically for this approval, ensuring no impact on public parking availability,” she said.
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