Executive hints at super-casino veto

But Executive could still refuse

Ministers signal dislike of plans

THE Scottish Executive today hinted it would step in to stop any local authority giving the go-ahead for a Las Vegas-style super-casino.

Under proposed reforms of the gambling laws, local licensing boards would be left to determine whether a super-casino should be allowed in their area.

But the Executive would still have the power to "call in" applications and decide them on strategic grounds.

Ministers from First Minister Jack McConnell down have already signalled their dislike of the idea of major casino developments.

And today, Deputy Finance Minister Tavish Scott, whose remit covers the gambling reforms, made clear the Executive would not hesitate to act.

He said: "It will be licensing boards who have the principle responsibility, but because of the powers given to Scottish ministers, it will be for Scottish ministers to lay down conditions over these matters and that is an important check."

His comments came as fellow Liberal Democrat MSP Robert Brown warned the plan to allow local authorities to make the key decisions was "a recipe for chaos".

Mr Brown said it should be the Scottish Parliament which had the final say on whether a Las Vegas-style development should be allowed in Scotland.

The UK Government has already been forced to backtrack on plans for a major expansion of casinos across the country.

It has scaled back its plans and set a limit of just eight such developments in the whole of the UK - one per region. That means Scotland would get a maximum of one super-casino.

But Mr Brown said councils would feel unable to reject the chance of a super-casino and the huge sums of money involved in such developments.

"That is a recipe for chaos and decisions based on the amount of money involved rather than planning need. It ought to be determined as a planning matter at a Scottish national level.

"Under the present set-up, local authorities are a bit too small for making strategic decisions of this dimension.

"It is not very helpful if individual local authorities are competing and one feels it would lose out if it doesn’t go for the investment."

Mr Brown said he found it difficult to accept claims that the super-casinos would bring investment and regeneration to local communities. The evidence from other countries was they were surrounded by "acres of deprivation" which only got worse.

The Executive wants MSPs to agree to leave colleagues at Westminster to deal with the gambling reform legislation. And it insists that any decision to locate one of these in Scotland "would only be taken in consultation with Scottish ministers".

But Mr Brown said it was essential Scottish ministers had the power to stop the building of super-casinos. He said: "The key point is whether they will have powers ultimately to say ‘no, we don’t want to see super- casinos in Scotland’.

"That’s a decision we ought - in one form or another - to have.

"I have no particular difficulty about the gambling regime in general being decided at Westminster, but whether we have super-casinos in Scotland should be decided here.

"The strategic decision in principle should be made by the Scottish Parliament and the Executive."

The Executive said planning policy guidelines about town centre and retail developments were being reviewed, including consideration of casinos.

Mr Scott said: "There is no question of any decision being taken without the full scrutiny of parliament.

"The tough measures we will put in place will ensure these issues will be properly debated."