Newham Town Hall
Newham Council’s decision to award the Aspers Group a licence to develop the UK’s largest casino at Westfield Stratford City has been criticised for its lack of regeneration prospects.
The planned 65,000 sq ft casino will be added on to the Central Arcade at the Westfield Stratford City and create 440 jobs for those in local area. However, Newham’s Licensing Committee has come under fire with suggestions being made that other bids offered more benefits for the community and greater prospects of regeneration.
In a press release, losing bidders City & Eastern expressed their disappointment and labelled the decision a “failed opportunity to regenerate run down areas of the borough”. Their argument is that their bid offered considerably more benefits to the people of Newham.
Director of City & Eastern Fergus Kinloch listed the benefits of their bid: “[It] included an initial cash injection of £7.5 million, a minimum annual guaranteed payment to the Borough of £2 million and 1,200 full time jobs.”
Issues about the location of the new development were also raised with Aspers’ project taking place in an area of Newham that has already undergone considerable regeneration. In contrast, City and Eastern’s project would have regenerated another area of Newham.
When questioned about the selection process, a representative from Newham council said: “We feel that it was a very robust process.”
However, the council representative was unable to comment further due to a judicial review of the decision currently taking place.
