Dome to be sports and music venue

Meridian Delta Limited has been appointed "exclusive partners" with English Partnerships to regenerate the Greenwich peninsula and take over ownership of the Millennium Dome on a 999-year lease, Stephen Byers announced today in a Commons written reply.

The announcement marks the third attempt by Ministers to sell the Millennium Dome.

The Meridian Delta consortium, which wants to convert the Greenwich building into a 20,000-seat arena for sports and music events, has been made the preferred bidder.

Critics of the Dome, which has drained more than £21m from the public purse since it closed last year, will complain that the bidder will not have to pay a lump sum to buy the site.

The price tag is expected to be below the £125m offered by Legacy last year and will not repay the huge costs of building and running the site. The payments for the Dome, sources say, will be "phased", which means that the full offer price will not be gained by the Government for several years.

There have been two unsuccessful bids for the Dome, one from Nomura, which offered £105m, and one from Legacy. Government sources said yesterday that they "cannot afford to fail a third time".

The Government is likely to face an immediate demand from Lattice, which was formerly part of British Gas, for at least £20m. British Gas used to own the site and is owed a proportion of the proceeds.