Monday, February 05, 2007

As The Gazette launches its most important ever campaign - to save
Blackpool's casino and regeneration dreams - SHELAGH PARKINSON and NICK HYDE
speak to those who believe it is vital we keep fighting That is message as
the dust settles on the resort's supercasino snub. Amazement, anger,
bewilderment - the list is endless when trying to describe the sense of
feeling against what many see as a gross injustice. "Blackpool had the best
case, proved it and still lost" is a sentiment shared by a town in shock at
the decision to award the lucrative prize to Manchester. Our North West
neighbours were, said the CAP, the best bet on all counts - for helping
assist regeneration of a poor district and as the social impact test bed for
Las Vegas-style glitz and gambling. Not so, say MPs, council leaders and
Gazette readers who today made an 11th hour appeal to Culture Secretary
Tessa Jowell to think again ahead of the crucial Parliamentary vote on the
matter.
Blackpool will lose millions in potential regeneration revenue by the
decision to hand the one-and-only licence to a modern, cosmopolitan city
already having benefited from £2bn of private sector investment in the last
five years.The reason for such strong support for Blackpool's case locally
comes from the 180-page CAP report - the same one which so publically damned
the resort's bid. It stated the casino was not enough to boost Blackpool's
fortunes, would not be instrumental in its rebirth and claimed Blackpool was
not in terminal decline. The Fylde's four MPs have branded the Casino
Advisory Panel report as littered with "inconsistencies" and
"contradictions". They have accused the panel of missing the point when it
came to assessing the "catalystic potential" of the super casino to trigger
further massive investment in Blackpool. They also argue the decision to
locate the development in a residential area of Manchester is completely at
odds with previous recommendations that such premises are not located close
to people's homes. Blackpool Council chief executive Steve Weaver and his
team are now formulting their official response to the panel's ruling. But
in Westminster, the Fylde's four MPs are already calling for a full debate
on the issue. Blackpool North and Fleetwood MP Joan Humble said: "The panel
report says a single casino will not regenerate our town, but they are
ignoring the effect the casino would have on pulling in other private sector
investment to Blackpool. "We have always referred to the casino as a
catalyst yet the panel doesn't take that as an issue.
"Of particular concern to me is the fact that they don't believe our
proposal would represent the best test for social impact because the
customers would be visitors who would then go home. "But that was always one
of the most positive parts of our proposals that a destination casino in a
resort like Blackpool would have a minimal effect on the impact of problem
gambling." Blackpool South MP Gordon Marsden accused the panel of
systematically failing to adhere to the remit given to them. He said: "There
are serious questions to be asked about the inconsistencies within the
report. "Firstly, Blackpool is criticised in that it wouldn't be able to
handle so-called doorstep gambling because the proposal site was in a
residential area, and yet the committee seem to have passed without comment
the fact they are proposing to site it in one of the most deprived areas of
East Manchester. "Secondly, they appear to have paid no attention whatsoever
to the instructions Parliament gave them to look at the regional context of
the development. We had the support of the Northwest Regional Development
Agency but that seems to have been ignored." Fylde MP Michael Jack added:
"The thing that surprised me was the emphasis given to the social
implications of gambling and therefore the reference to Manchester as the
best test bed, which was a fundamental shift from the main point which I
think everyone thought was the impact of this kind of development on
regeneration.