Great Yarmouth casino and cinema plans Edge closer as councillors unanimously vote in its favour

A multi-million pound investment into the Great Yarmouth seafront has moved a step closer to becoming a reality.

The Edge development has been almost a decade in the making and on Wednesday councillors gave the green light for its first phase.

At a meeting of Great Yarmouth Borough Council's development control committee, full planning permission for an 81-room Premier Inn amd Beefeater restaurant was granted, with councillors unanimously voting in its favour.

Councillors also unanimously approved an outline application for a large casino, an entertainment complex with restaurants and a cinema and an indoor children's play area, which will subsequently be added across the projects three stages.

It was the third time proposals for The Edge had been put before the council, with larger scale applications receiving planning permission in 2006 and 2011 respectively, though these lapsed.

However, this time, Nick Laister of RPS Planning and Development, on behalf of applicant Albert Jones, assured councillors it would be third time lucky.

Work on the first phase, the Premier Inn, has been touted to begin in October, with the following October targeted for the beginning of second phase - the cinema, restaurants and indoor play area.

Full planning applications are now pending for phases two and three of the development.