£125m Dome bid still in balance

A £125m bid to take over the Millennium Dome remains in the balance today.

A £125m bid to take over the Millennium Dome remains in the balance today.

Legacy, which has bid to take over the attraction when it closes, says it will walk away from the project unless the Government comes up with a favourable decision on the sale by the end of this week.

But after a ministers' meeting on the bid yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said further discussion was needed and a decision would be made "over the next couple of days".

A spokesman for Legacy said the deadline was still in place and Legacy would clarify its position later today.

Legacy is headed by Labour Party-supporting property entrepreneur Robert Bourne and the company wants to turn the Dome into a hi-tech business park, creating 14,000 jobs within three years.

It has been unhappy that the Government has not given it preferred bidder status so that it can confidently proceed with buying the Dome, which will close to the general public at the end of this year.

Legacy had finished second in the competition to take over the Dome - its challenge having been beaten off by the Dome Europe consortium backed by Japanese finance group Nomura.

The consortium wanted to turn the Dome into a giant theme park but pulled out in September in a move that allowed Legacy back into the running.

Legacy envisages a mini-city within the Dome with trees and cafes.

It is understood that final details were being put to the Legacy bid in the hours before yesterday's ministers' meeting.

Any pullout by Legacy would be the latest in a series of disasters to hit the ill-fated Dome, whose operators have had to ask continuously for extra funds from the National Lottery.