Bournemouth Council has announced that a casino to be built adjacent to Bournemouth Pavilion will be reduced in size to keep residents happy. The casino will now have a floor area of 38,100sq ft (3,540sq m), of which 14,900sq ft (1,380sq m) will be for gaming – 16 per cent smaller than planned – while new rooftop walkways and outdoor terraces will be built to make the venue more ‘family-friendly’.

An inquiry has been called for into why a Liberal Democrat council signed a contract for a casino on the day it lost power in a landslide election. Bournemouth Borough Council signed the contract with Trevor Osborne Property Group on 3 May as voting was under way. On coming into power, the new Tory administration vowed to stop the casino plan, only to find out later that the deal had already been signed.