UP to 900 jobs in the borough may be gone for good after plans for a large casino were voted out by the House of Lords.
The project, which has cost the borough hundreds of man hours and an undisclosed sum, was rejected by peers by 123 votes to 120 on Wednesday night along with the other 16 planned new casinos, including the UK's first super-casino in Manchester.
Solihull's casino, awarded after it failed to make the shortlist drawn up by the Government-appointed Casino Advisory Panel for a super-casino was expected to eb sited at the NEC.
Many will see this as a farcical end to a costly paper exercise and Council leader Ted Richards, a strong supporter of the project, said he was "disappointed" by the decision.
"I think we are in the government's hands to a large extent. It's something which I think would be appropriate, in an appropriate location, creating 900 jobs which we could do with, particularly in the north of the borough."
He added that he thought Solihull's MP Lorely Burt and even fellow Tory Caroline Spelman MP had "jumped on the bandwagon" by opposing the gambling centre in the borough.
However Mrs Burt, praised the decision, saying the damage of a large casino would far outweigh the benefits.
"A super casino would have had great regenerative opportunities, but a large casino would be a large number of one-arm bandits and gaming tables and not much else," she said.
Elaine Williams, Lyndon area campaigner for the Green Party, also celebrated the news. "I am delighted that this has been thrown out. The fact that there are already 340,000 gambling addicts in the UK and the prediction that the Solihull casino would add to this figure is more than enough justification for this plan to be rejected."
