Hotel plan depends on casino

ST PIERRE PARK will be given a £20m. revamp - but only if the hotel is awarded the casino licence. Plans for the development were announced yesterday, just days after the licence tendering deadline. 'It is a big commitment and it requires the casino project to make it viable. We are not spending £20m. without the casino,' said Tom Scott, chairman of CI Traders, which owns the hotel. 'What we have done at this moment is put all our energy into what the States of Guernsey and the Tourist Board have asked us in the tendering contract. We have done our sums. 'Without part of it, we will have to look at it again. We will have to look at it and see what we are prepared to do if we are not successful.' Asked whether the timing of the announcement was intended to put pressure on the board, Mr Scott said: 'People can think what they like.' Tourist Board president Geoff Norman said that the development would be 'an injection of good faith into the industry and of great benefit to the island'. But he did not want to comment about the dependence of the plans on the hotel being awarded the casino licence. Mr Scott said that the timeframe of the development depended on whether and when the casino licence was awarded to the hotel, but he said it was likely that it would be closed for some time. 'We have started work already. We have spent a lot of money at La Trelade upgrading it. It is yet to be decided whether it will be a total closure, but it may well be the quickest option.' CI Traders' plans to relaunch St Pierre Park as a luxury hotel and casino resort, which will offer a total package to its guests and members. It will include extended banqueting and conference areas, 24 new bedrooms, 12 new suites, four new bars, a new health club and beauty spa and a cinema. The plans are also still subject to Island Development Committee approval, but Mr Scott said he hoped there would be few problems with the designs. 'This is what we will have to see. There may be discussions with the IDC and there may have to be slight changes.' Discussions have taken place with the IDC in the early stages of the design process and the submissions were made last week. The casino tender applications had to be in last Tuesday. The Tourist Board has stayed tight-lipped about the number of applicants, but said the quality was high.