Not surprisingly a group has been formed to attempt to put an end to the dreams of the ILD with the logical name of "Stop Gran Scala", and the 12th of December set as the date for a wave of protests.

The group holds that the project is economically as well as ecologically unsustainable and is taking its case to the European Parliament. It holds that EU directives are being ignored or twisted around to suit political desires, which themselves are beginning to look less certain.

What is certain is that the ruling government at present is till giving its backing to the project, and has recently implemented anti-crisis legislation that can only be a bonus to the ILD who its thought may become beneficiaries of tax payers money to promote the scheme.

The opposition candidate for the Popular Party (PP) has meanwhile been meeting with the mayor of Ontiñena, the proposed site for the mega-project, and has described the situation as "lots of noise but no nuts" - ie suggesting that nothing has really been solidified there.

Against that, Mark Campbell, the Spanish representative of the Gran Scala project, has stated that construction will begin in 2009.

There's no doubt that with Spain heading into recession and the construction industry being the biggest sufferer, the possibility of jobs and money coming into the economy would be welcomed to a large extent. However, as Stop Gran Scala would not doubt point out - at what cost? And to what end?

It's a fair question that really needs to be asked with great care. And really - what is the big attraction of the project? This is not America - there are casinos all over Europe. There are major theme parks just 4 hours drive from Aragon. So what's the big deal? There will need to be some serious convincing still to be done not just to get the project up and running, but to get the visitors in and paying. Would you want to go there?