Dear Sir,

Your reporter, David Sedgwick, had a very interesting item in the paper last week - about the possibility of having a Casino in the area. I guess Whitley Bay might be the site people have in mind.

It seems that most Conservative and Liberal Democrats voted in favour of expressing an interest now in having a casino when there was a debate in the Council; but most Labour Councillors (with some others) voted to wait until residents had been consulted.

No doubt the arguments in favour include the creation of jobs and helping to sustain the tourist trade at the Coast. But this does not seem to me to be the sort of development that we need. There is already a poor image of Whitley Bay being seen as a heavy drinking resort. Gambling is likely to make that worse.

I am not a killjoy, but evidence shows that casinos can bring with them great misery and poverty for a small number. The casino owners take the profits, but they do not pick up the pieces. That is left to the Council Tax payers, and we can ill afford that. That is a problem, which will reach out way beyond the small area around the casino.

My voice is against it. I’m glad the Council voted the way it did. If it had gone through, these things have a way of developing their own momentum. The test should be: on balance is this going to help the people of the area. I don’t think it would.

Yours sincerely,

Ian Grayson Labour Candidate for Monkseaton South Ward