It may not have been headline news but a letter from the Chairman of the Casino Advisory Panel (CAP) to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell MP, has requested an additional month for the submission of its report. The CAP recommendation for the location of Britain’s first and, for the foreseeable future, only regional casino is unlikely to be published before the end of January 2007. Those local authorities that took part in the licensing process will now have an extra month to wait before learning the fate of their applications.

The third progress report presented by CAP to Tessa Jowell was submitted on 10 October. CAP states that the Examinations in Public were felt to have been a useful exercise as they provided additional evidence for consideration in the Panel’s deliberations. Answers to a number of proposal-specific questions posed by CAP to the shortlisted authorities for all 17 licences available (1 regional; 8 large; 8 small) are expected to provide further insight into the relevant applications.

In his letter Professor Stephen Crow, CAP Chairman, says that a supplementary report on revisions to the shortlists will be submitted shortly. In July CAP invited all proposing authorities the opportunity to provide new, compelling and previously unavailable evidence to support their case. The deadline for submission was 14 August 2006. Brent, a shortlisted contender for the regional licence, has since withdrawn its application, as have Canterbury, Dartford and Thurrock, shortlisted for large and small licences.

The reason given for the request to delay the CAP recommendations by one month is the time needed for the printing process. This may seem at odds with the modern instant news channels available, but it is required that printed copies of reports should be available to all at the same time as a report is submitted to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The local authorities in the running will just have to bide their time a little longer before receiving the news. (E-10.24.06)

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