Amusement arcades and the sui generis position

Amusement arcade planning is governed by one structural fact: arcades and amusement centres are named as sui generis in the Use Classes Order, so they sit outside the classes and every change into or out of the use needs planning permission. There is no equivalent of the flexibility a shop or an office enjoys inside Class E, and no way to open an arcade in a vacant retail unit without an application.

The second structural fact is that the gambling licence is a separate matter entirely, and the two regimes are barred by statute from taking account of each other.

Why arcades sit outside the classes

Article 3(6) of the Use Classes Order lists the uses that belong to no class, and amusement arcades or centres and funfairs are among them. They were never in the old assembly and leisure class, and the 2020 reorganisation that created Class E did not bring them in.

The consequence runs both ways. A former shop cannot become an arcade without permission. An arcade that closes cannot be relet as a shop, a café or a gym without permission either, which is a point worth raising with landlords who assume the unit reverts to something lettable.

Limited permitted changes from certain sui generis uses into Class E do exist in Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the GPDO, and the list has been amended more than once. Check the current Part 3 for your specific starting use rather than assuming there is nothing available, because the answer differs between a betting office, a launderette and an arcade.

Adult gaming centres and family entertainment centres

The planning use description should reflect what is actually proposed, because two quite different operations are loosely called arcades.

An adult gaming centre is restricted to over-18s and offers higher stake gaming machines. A family entertainment centre admits children and is limited to lower stake machines, and it comes in a licensed form and a permit form depending on the machine categories offered.

That distinction matters in planning terms even though the use class is the same. Officers assess an adult gaming centre against policies on unneighbourly and non-retail frontage uses, with attention to hours, frontage treatment and anti-social behaviour. A family entertainment centre in a seaside resort or a leisure park is assessed more like a leisure use. Describing the proposal accurately at the outset avoids a condition that restricts you to the wrong one.

Where the operator intends to offer both, say so and show the internal separation, because the machine categories and the age separation have physical consequences for the layout.

Clustering and frontage policies

The policy most often applied is a control on the proportion of a defined shopping frontage occupied by non-retail uses, sometimes with a separate control on the number of a particular use type within a stated distance.

Those policies are only as strong as the evidence, and the evidence is usually thin on both sides. The applicant asserts that the area has a mixed character. The objector asserts that there are already too many. Neither carries weight without a survey.

So do the survey. Walk the frontage identified in the policy, record every unit with its address, its current use and whether it is vacant, measure the frontage length of each, and calculate the proportion in each category. Present it as a table with a plan. Where the policy sets a percentage threshold, state your figure against it. Where the unit has been vacant, give the period and any marketing history.

A Planning Statement built on that survey is a different document from one built on assertion, and it is the single best investment in this kind of application. On larger schemes or where the policy is framed in town centre vitality terms, a Retail Impact Assessment may also be expected, and councils usually expect a suitably qualified author for it with professional review advised.

Hours, noise and frontage design

Three physical matters come up in every case.

Hours of operation. Adult gaming centres frequently apply for long hours, and authorities frequently resist them next to residential accommodation. Ask for the hours the business needs and support them with the frontage survey, showing what else in the street trades late.

Noise. Machine sound, music and door opening all break out to the street and to flats above, and the low frequency component of machine audio travels through structure. Where there is residential accommodation above or behind, a Noise Impact Assessment is normally required covering machine noise, any plant, and patron noise at the entrance. Design the entrance as a lobby with two sets of doors rather than a single door propped open in summer.

Frontage. Obscured glazing, full-height vinyl film and permanently closed shutters are the objections that officers raise most consistently, because they deaden the street. A design showing real visibility into an active internal area, with lighting levels controlled so that the interior does not read as a light box at night, answers the point. Signage and any illuminated fascia need advertisement consent under the advertisement control regulations, which is a separate application.

Gambling licensing as a parallel regime

An adult gaming centre needs a premises licence from the licensing authority under the Gambling Act 2005. A permit-based family entertainment centre needs a gaming machine permit instead.

The statutory separation is explicit. The Gambling Act provides that a licensing authority may not have regard to whether planning permission has been granted when deciding a premises licence application, and a licence does not authorise development. So the two applications proceed independently, and neither outcome determines the other.

Two practical consequences. Do not tell a planning officer that the licensing authority has granted a licence as though it supported the planning case, because it does not. And keep the operating information consistent between the two applications, since inconsistency between the licence operating schedule and the planning description is the kind of thing objectors find.

Where gambling related harm is raised as an objection, the honest position is that planning can consider effects on the character and vitality of the area and on amenity, and can take account of evidence of local harm where a development plan policy engages it, while the licensing objectives themselves are matters for the licensing authority. A moral objection to gambling is not a material planning consideration. Evidence about the concentration of machine gambling in a deprived area, tied to a health or town centre policy, can be.

A Health Impact Assessment is occasionally required by authorities whose plans carry a health policy engaging this kind of use, and where one is asked for it should address the specific policy rather than general public health material.

The application pack

For a change of use to an arcade, a proportionate pack contains:

• A planning statement dealing with the use class position, the frontage policy and the loss of the previous use.
• The frontage survey with a plan and a table.
• Existing and proposed floor plans showing the internal layout, any age separation and the entrance lobby.
• Elevations showing the shopfront, glazing treatment, lighting and any proposed signage.
• A noise assessment where there is residential accommodation nearby.
• A statement of hours, staffing and management arrangements, including door supervision if proposed.
• Waste storage and collection arrangements.

Where the building is listed or in a conservation area, add a heritage statement dealing with the shopfront, because shopfront alterations are where conservation officers engage most closely.

For the wider category of uses that fall outside the classes, see the note on sui generis uses. The closest parallel in policy terms is the 2015 change that took betting offices out of a use class, covered in the note on betting shops and the 2015 use class change.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.