Bishop Calls For Blackpool Aid After Casino Loss

Blackpool should be given government aid to revive its fortunes after its super Casino disappointment, according to the Bishop of Blackburn.

The Rt Rev Nicholas Reade said jobs linked to the development would have gone a long way to alleviate some of the poverty in the resort.

East Manchester was named as the home of the UK's first super casino.

The Rt Rev Reade said: "This decision seems to me to be a great missed opportunity."

The panel said the Beswick area of east Manchester, where the casino is proposed, had the "greatest need in terms of multiple deprivation" of all the proposals.

"It seems rather puzzling why a place like Manchester - where the need for regeneration is obviously nothing like as great as it is in Blackpool - should have been awarded the casino," said the Bishop, whose diocese covers the resort.

"I hope very much that the regional development agency and central government will be very supportive of Blackpool as the town inevitably looks at other ways of regenerating itself."

The super casino development promised up to 2,500 direct jobs, which "would have gone a long way towards alleviating poverty", he added.

Despite reservations about the ethics of casinos, the Bishop was moved to support the bid after being re-assured by Blackpool's plans to counter problem gambling and its economic benefits.

Other religious leaders have expressed concern about casinos, with faith groups in Manchester expressing serious concern about the "social and moral effects".

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said he was concerned about the message gambling sent out and the effect of a super casino on Manchester.

"I know that the area of Manchester where this development is planned to take place, in Beswick, is one which has a long history of deprivation which is going through regeneration at the moment," he said.

"I'm concerned about the messages that are being sent out; about the messages that are being sent out about gambling and children which will need to be controlled very, very vigorously."