By Andrew HollisPROTESTERS have been celebrating after a plan to create a £3.2 million casino in Felixstowe was withdrawn at the last-minute.Uncertainty now surrounds the scheme by company Palatial Leisure to transform the resort's cinema and bingo hall into a hotel and leisure complex.

By Andrew Hollis

PROTESTERS have been celebrating after a plan to create a £3.2 million casino in Felixstowe was withdrawn at the last-minute.

Uncertainty now surrounds the scheme by company Palatial Leisure to transform the resort's cinema and bingo hall into a hotel and leisure complex.

Suffolk Coastal District Council's development control sub-committee was not told at its meeting yesterday why the application had been removed and no-one was available from Palatial Leisure to talk about its decision.

Councillors had been recommended to reject the project for the site in Crescent Road because it was against the authority's policy and would have had an enormous impact on residents' lives.

Almost 200 people had objected to the casino development, which would also have featured a single-screen cinema, a conference centre, a bingo hall, a restaurant, a gym and a 57-bed hotel.

There were worries such a big development would lead to more late-night noise and disturbance and less on-street parking for residents.

Planning officers claimed the building design would be "overbearing" in the area and the Felixstowe Society, a conservation group, felt the development would be against policy and such a venture should be sited on the seafront.

The Felixstowe Town Centre Residents' Association agreed, saying the casino would ruin the quality of life for may people living in the town centre.

But Patrick Duffy, managing director of Palatial Leisure, denied the complex would cause late-night problems as it would be "members only".

He claimed it would also make Felixstowe safer because it would bring people and activity to the area, providing an economic boost.