07/02/2008

Manchester Supercasino Plan To Be Axed

Whitehall insiders have described plans for the building of a supercasino in a deprived area of east Manchester as "dead in the water".

In a letter to devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales, officials have reportedly made it clear that it will be axed.

The plans were projected to bring in some £265 million investment and up to 2,700 direct and indirect jobs to a deprived area in the city.

Manchester fought off bids from Blackpool and the Millennium Dome in Greenwich to win the right to host the UK's first supercasino last January.

However, the scheme was put on ice last March when peers rejected the proposed supercasino by just three votes after MPs backed it by a majority of 24.

Large casinos are set for construction in Great Yarmouth, Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newham, Solihull and Southampton.

The sites chosen for smaller venues are Bath and North East Somerset, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lindsey, Luton, Scarborough, Swansea, Torbay and Wolverhampton.

Angie Robinson, Chief Executive of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said it was unfair to win a competition and then have the first prize taken away.

"The process went through Parliament and it was then put to an independent panel which decided Manchester was the most appropriate choice for regeneration.

"Then all of a sudden someone does not want it to go ahead. It's little short of madness.

(GC)


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