According to Tees Valley Regeneration, “the ethos behind Middlehaven as a whole is to reposition Middlesbrough as a destination of international significance; to reconnect the town centre with the riverside, and to create a sustainable high-quality, mixed-use environment where people can ‘live, work and play’. Preparing the way for Phase II of the dockland development an outline planning application has been made already, and a joint campaign has been launched by Tees Valley Regeneration and Mayor Ray Mallon to gain public support for a bid to host the only super casino in Britain.

The Middlehaven development is on 250 acres in the heart of Middlesbrough, with public and private sector investment of £500 million (US$893 million). The long-term aim of transforming the redundant waterfront area “from derelict site to digital city” in the region's biggest regeneration project will see 2,400 homes built over the next 20 years and the first office development, in a scheme to eventually provide over 800,000 sq ft of commercial offices, has been completed. Middlehaven also seeks to bring world-beating leisure attractions into the heart of Middlesbrough and become a model of best practice for regeneration, making the town attractive to tourists from the UK and beyond. There is a new art gallery and public square, and around 3,000 new jobs are anticipated, 2,000 in the leisure industry.

This bid to establish Middlesbrough in England’s northeast as a forward-thinking, imaginative and dynamic town is encompassed in the support for building Britain’s first mega casino leisure complex. The prospective £150 million (US$267 million) regional casino project would include a music arena, 4-star casino hotel and a moveable road bridge across the dock entrance. Tees Valley Regeneration is convinced that the regeneration benefits for the region outweigh any possible social impact concerns. (E-10.27.05)

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