HUME City councillors have labelled a proposal for more pokies a necessary evil for the future of Craigieburn.

Hume City Council, at last week’s council meeting, endorsed an application for a tavern with 60 gaming machines to be built in Craigieburn.

While all councillors who spoke on the application acknowledged the negative effects of poker machines, they said that the severe lack of facilities in Craigieburn justified the application.

Councillor Drew Jessop said the Craigieburn community needed a social venue, and one could only exist if it had pokies.

“It’s a sad economic fact that it seems we can’t do one without the other,” he said.

“The lack of movement on the town centre makes this development even more important, because there is a lack of any other entertainment facilities and there would appear to be for some time yet.”

A council-supervised survey revealed that 55 per cent of the 300 respondents initially opposed the inclusion of more pokies, but when told that the tavern would not go ahead without pokies, only 26 per cent were opposed. The number of neutral responses were 15 per cent and 22 per cent respectively.

“Reflecting the community opinion, it’s better to have and control these excesses than not have the alternative social and entertainment venues that the community so desperately needs,” Cr Jessop said.

“We acknowledge there will be an increase in the number of problem gamblers. There will be a loss of expenditure that otherwise would go to more productive business and retail opportunities.”

Councillor Ros Spence also supported the application.

“At the moment you have a growing community with shrinking facilities. I think the community will welcome it, hesitantly accepting what goes with it, however overall it is a facility that would be welcomed,” she said.

The decision to endorse the application was not unanimous.

Councillor Helen Patsikatheodorou said the “all or nothing” survey question was unfair.

“I know that Craigieburn needs facilities, but I think to tell people you’re getting this or nothing, is really in my opinion holding people up for ransom,” she said.

“I really feel for the Craigieburn community, but that doesn’t mean that we have to provide anything just to get something in there. I think Craigieburn needs quality, and to provide venues that are family friendly.”

Councillor Adem Atmaca agreed.

“Craigieburn is a new suburb … I think exposing these new home owners and young communities to a development such as this which adds 60 gaming machines, I don’t think that I can support that,” he said.

The addition of 60 poker machines in Craigieburn would take the total number of machines on Hume City to 822, at an average of 6.69 machines per 1000 people, compared to 6.29 machines in metropolitan Melbourne.

Cr Jessop said he hoped the increase in population in Hume would eventually bring the average back down to the metropolitan Melbourne average.

The Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation will make the final decision on the application.