Casino Battle Starts In Earnest
The battle for a regional casino has begun in earnest with local authorities promoting their bids in the House of Commons.
But Solihull and Coventry, both expected to bid for the regional casino licence, are trailing behind other local authorities in getting their message across to MPs.
Full-page advertisements have been taken out by four councils from other parts of the country in the latest edition of The House, Parliament's own magazine, which is edited by Birmingham MP Gisela Stuart (Lab Edgbaston).
The fast pace of the publicity drive demonstrates the level of competition West Midlands authorities will face.
The House is distributed to MPs, but the advertisers will be hoping in particular to influence Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and colleagues working with her.
She will make the final decision on where the casino should go, based on the recommendation of an independent panel.
Blackpool Council set out its proposals to "reinvent itself as a 21st century world class visitor destination."
Its advert said: "Blackpool has put together an economically robust and thoroughly researched masterplan with a conference/casino quarter at its heart, acting as the catalyst and essential economic driver of other elements of the plan."
Glasgow also had a full-page advertisement, which said: "A regional casino will benefit from and enhance our growing and well-established national and international reputation."
Ipswich, which has expressed an interest in a regional casino, had a full-page advertisement.
However, The House does contain short articles by MPs from across the country on the battle to win a casino licence, including Lorely Burt (Lib Dem), MP for Solihull.
She writes about the regeneration benefits that would result from the NEC scheme, which she calls "the Birmingham project."
She writes: "This will have a knock-on economic effect for the Birmingham and West Midlands region as a world-class place to do business and even to locate."
