NEW powers handed to local authorities to control the number of betting shops in the high street will be thrust under the microscope after a fresh application from another bookies.

William Hill’s application to open a betting shop in Queen Victoria Street - which already hosts a Paddy Power branch - is up for discussion at Reading’s planning committee meeting this month, three months after deputy council leader Tony Page helped successfully campaign for local authorities to be handed powers to halt the rise in bookies.

If it is approved, it will become the fifth betting shop in Reading town centre and the 21st in the borough - which already contains six in Tilehurst alone.

Cllr Page told The Chronicle last Wednesday: “I do have concerns and I have therefore already asked for this application to be brought to the planning committee so it can be properly discussed.”

Cllr Page is a representative of the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents 370 councils in the UK and had said local authorities were left powerless when it came to limiting the number of betting shops under previous Government legislation.

Neighbours in Tilehurst reacted with fury to a sixth betting shop opening in the area in March and neighbour Olivier Kutz said: “I think it is morally wrong and also presents a further aggravating factor for crime and anti-social behaviour in the area.”

Labour’s Reading West parliamentary candidate Victoria Groulef, who launched a petition in March calling on the Government to ask communities to shape their high street, said: “My view is we need to give local communities a say on the change of use of shops for betting use.

“If we have too many of these types of shops, we lose the unique nature of our high street.”

But while Reading East MP Rob Wilson welcomed the change in legislation, he issued a warning to local authorities, telling the Chronicle: “I hope they use their powers wisely.”