9:28am Monday 15th March 2010
By Simon Carr
WORK can go ahead on the Rose Bowl’s controversial hotel after a judge threw out a legal bid to block the development, the Daily Echo can reveal.
The High Court has refused to hold a judicial review into a massive £32m loan by Eastleigh council bosses to bail out the transformation of the home of Hampshire Cricket.
The Rose Bowl Transformation
Critics attacked it as a gamble with taxpayers’ money while the council claimed it would create 200 jobs, bring £20m a year to the area and attract top sports and entertainment events.
As reported by the Daily Echo, three hotel companies – Meridian Leisure, McDonalds Hotel and Shire Hotels – launched legal action but that has now been dismissed by deputy judge John Randall QC.
He said the challenge had “no realistic prospect of success”.
It was feared that if the hotel project was killed off it would have put the whole £48m transformation of the Rose Bowl – including additional seating, hospitality boxes and a championship golf course – in jeopardy.
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