London Eye is here to stay

The London Eye is expected to be granted permanent status by planners after becoming one of the capital's most popular tourist attractions.

Officials from Lambeth Council will recommend at a meeting next Tuesday that the 450ft Ferris wheel remain at its site opposite the Houses of Parliament on the Thames.

The existing planning permission runs out in March 2005 and the council recommends that the status of the Eye is reviewed in 20 years. Further approval is required from Whitehall and the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone.

The "millennium wheel" was initially dogged by technical troubles and its scheduled opening on Millennium Eve was postponed. But in two and a half years it has attracted some 8.5 million visitors.

Alex Brannen, a spokesman for the London Tourist Board, said yesterday: "It has provided London with a new, iconic building which is beginning to be recognised worldwide .... It is now one of the 'must-dos' in London."