NEC plans 'threaten Coventry city centre'

A huge retail and entertainment development at the NEC is a threat to the long-term viability of Coventry city centre.


Coventry city centre

That is the warning from the chairman of Coventry City Council’s planning committee over plans to build a £120 million super casino in between Coventry and Birmingham.

As well as the 50,000 sq ft casino, plans have been approved for an 18-bed hotel and spa, a conference and banqueting centre, designer outlet shops, restaurants and 300 car parking spaces.

The city council sent a formal letter of objection to neighbouring Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council over the out-of-town development – but says it was ignored.

Coun Kevin Maton insists Solihull has a legal responsibility to consult with a bordering authority over such a major project.

“It’s going to make it very difficult for Coventry to compete and maintain the vitality and viability of the city centre as a major retail centre.

“This – because it is an out of town development and has the land and the infrastructure – is a major development.

“We have Solihull and Leamington to compete with, but so far these are within defined shopping centres in their catchment area.

“As an adjacent authority which it is recognised this will have an impact on, we should have been consulted.

"The fact that we weren’t even spoken to was something we were particularly disappointed about.”

Resorts World is expected to open by the end of 2013, creating 1,100 new jobs and more than 1,750 construction jobs.

The owners of Coventry’s West Orchards Shopping Centre and Rugby’s Clock Tower Shopping Centre also lodged objections.

Developer Genting UK says it will add £25 million a year to the local economy and pledged to recruit locally.

The 2.7 hectare development comes amid fears in Coventry the planned HS2 rail line could lead to a planning free-for-all around the NEC where the station would be built.

The chief HS2 engineer even reportedly claimed a “new city” could be built in the Meriden Gap.

Coun Maton added: “We don’t want to see that area with hundreds of thousands of houses on the back of the flimsy reason that HS2 might be there in 20 years.”

Solihull Council declined to comment on the development plan.

This is from the same council that have allowed Coventry city centre to decline over the last 40 years and have built acres of out of town retail, including the dire Central Six, and the recent shopping centre at Binley.

Cretins.

Work starts on £150m casino complex at NEC, Birmingham



The seven-storey Resorts World complex, being built on the site of the NEC near Birmingham, will include a hotel, restaurants, cinema and shops.

The Malaysian company Genting, which sponsors Aston Villa, is behind the development which is expected to be completed in 2015.

Genting said the scheme involved 1,750 construction jobs, while the completed complex would offer 1,100 jobs.

Paul Thandi, chief executive of the NEC Group, said the project which covers 538,000 sq ft (163,982 sq m) would "make a significant contribution to the local economy".

He said: "We are genuinely proud to be officially starting the construction work on Resorts World Birmingham.

"Our partnership with Genting marks an important step in our wider vision to make the NEC site more of a destination and the place where people come to discover the future."

Mr Thandi said the facility aimed to help ensure the site had greater appeal.

However, some people have warned the new casino could create more gambling "addicts".

Prof Jim Orford, from the University of Birmingham, said research found new casinos lead to such problems in the surrounding area.

"The local population is at risk," he said.

"A few years later we find that the rate of gambling problems affecting individuals and their families go up in the neighbourhood."

Peter Brooks, president and chief operating officer of Genting UK, said the casino would make up 10% of the development and the firm was aware of problem gambling.

He said: "We take these issues of social responsibility very seriously.

"We invest a lot of money in training our people so they're aware and can help."

The Birmingham project is one of eight large casinos which have been approved by the Casino Advisory Panel.

The National Casino Forum said it was set to be the second of these to open following the opening of Westfield casino, next to the Olympic Park in east London, in 2011.