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Manchester gears up for supercasino decision

26/02/2008

Manchester is preparing to take legal action if the government confirms its decision not to grant the city a licence to build the UK's first supercasino.

Council chiefs have expressed deep concern that the government's supercasino u-turn means £250 million of lost investment for Manchester and have threatened to sue ministers.

However, a judicial review will probably not be sought by the council if the government agrees to a £10 million boost for Manchester's Sports City and the creation of 1,600 sports and leisure jobs.

There is also talk of extending the life of regeneration agency New East Manchester, which would lead to a further 4,000 jobs, according to the Guardian.

But a senior council source told the Times that the compensation package may not be enough to satisfy the town hall administration.

"The things that [Hazel] Blears is going to announce probably would have happened anyway and they will create at best a few hundred jobs," the source said.

Last year, the Casino Advisory Panel recommended that a supercasino be built in Manchester, but the idea was rejected by the House of Lords.

Some months later, Gordon Brown announced a review but he made it clear that the supercasino project was effectively dead.