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Resort rival kicks off super casino pitches
ONE of Blackpool's main rivals for the super casino licence has said a successful licence bid would spark a regeneration goldmine.
Coun Peter Brooks, deputy leader of Greenwich Council, said giving the Millennium Dome the coveted licence would create 10,000 new homes, new jobs and schools.
He also told the Casino Advisory Panel (CAP) – the group which reports to the Government – it would bring in 600m to the area.
Greenwich was the first of the seven shortlisted towns to outline its bid as the first of the site visits clicked into action.
The CAP will arrive in Blackpool on Friday September 8.
Coun Brooks said the Dome would be developed as an entertainment district and claimed a casino in the Dome would "accelerate" the pace of regeneration and transform tourism and entertainment in the area.
It would bring a 320-bed "world-class" hotel and a second 400 to 500-bed hotel, exhibition space and a theatre.
He added that without the casino, the hotels, exhibition space, theatre and the further development of the entertainment district would not be able to proceed.
Professor Stephen Crow, chairman of CAP was in London yesterday to cast an eye over the plans.
Members of CAP will be visiting the short-listed sites over the next 10 days as regeneration bosses attempt to woo the panel into choosing their town as the venue for the casino licence.
Prof Crow used the first public exhibition to allay fears in Blackpool that the recent John Prescott affair meant that the Millennium Dome's bid was a "done deal."
The Deputy Prime Minister sparked controversy in July when he visited the American ranch of billionaire tycoon, and Dome owner Philip Anschutz.
Pictures were also published in a Sunday newspaper this week purporting to show work having already begun on a huge casino-style complex within the Dome.
Prof Crow said: "Is Greenwich a done deal for the regional casino? The answer to that question is no, I do not know how I can spell it out, it is N.O.
"We have made no such decision, in fact we have made no decision at all until we have considered everything, including those proceedings over the rest of the week and those next week and any other questions we think to ask afterwards."
The panel will take a day off today before visiting Cardiff tomorrow.
It will visit Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and finally Blackpool next week
CAP will report its recommendation to the Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell by December this year.
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Weather for Blackpool
Sunday 27 May 2012
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Temperature: 14 C to 27 C
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