Rival to seek judicial review of Westfield/Aspers’ casino win

A rival development consortium is to seek a judicial review of Newham Council’s decision to award the UK’s first “large” casino licence to Aspers and Westfield at Stratford City, next to the Olympic Park. City & Eastern (C&E), the development company behind the Great Eastern Quays Casino, one of the three bidders for the Newham licence, said the decision to award the licence to Aspers at the Westfield shopping centre is a “wasted opportunity to regenerate run-down areas in the borough”. It said: “Newham has failed to abide by the conclusions of its own independent report on casinos in the borough, which found that the casino should be used as a tool for regeneration, should be part of a major leisure destination and not be located within a town centre. “Newham was selected because the government wanted a casino in London and it was the borough deemed most in need of regeneration.” The consortium said that it had consulted its lawyers and is considering applying for a judicial review. C&E is the lead developer behind a consortium that includes landowner Notting Hill Housing Group, casino operator Group Partouche, Antony Spencer’s Stadium Developments, which developed Arsenal Stadium, and ARC, an Asian-based gaming and resort development specialist. Fergus Kinloch, a director of C&E, said: “We are very disappointed at the decision. This is a wasted opportunity for the people of Newham. Our scheme devised an exciting and innovative leisure destination and residential community that would have regenerated this part of the borough to the tune of £100m. The Westfield/Aspers casino, comprising 65,000 sq ft, will be located in the Central Arcade. It will have internal and external access as part of the round-the-clock leisure and entertainment centre. Westfield UK managing director Michael Gutman has described the casino as “a real game-changer for consumers on the eastern side of the capital”.