Eye proves a real money-spinner

It has become the biggest pay-for tourist attraction in Britain. Now the London Eye is set to keep turning for at least another 25 years.

Lambeth council will next week extend temporary planning permission for the Eye until 2027 - as long as London Mayor Ken Livingstone and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott give their consent.

But the success of the venture had led joint owner British Airways to hope for approval for it to run in perpetuity.

Since opening in March 2000 at a cost of £75 million, the London Eye, which was initially granted planning permission for five years, has attracted 8.5 million visitors. It now has 3.5million paying customers a year - double the prediction - over two thirds of whom are from the UK.

It also attracts a further 2.1million sightseers to the South Bank, where, along with the Tate Modern and Shakespeare's Globe, it has had a major impact in regenerating the area.

"It's been a tremendous success for London in terms of attracting visitors but also as an icon to help us promote London overseas," a spokesman for the London Tourist Board said.

However, the Eye has generated some protests about the impact of visitors on the adjacent Jubilee Gardens, the doubling of crime in the area and the smell and nuisance caused by food vendors and coaches.

In July last year 112 crimes were reported - four times the average before the Eye opened.

Its owners, the London Eye Company (LEC), a consortium of BA, the Tussaud's Group and Marks Barfield architects (who designed the 135-metre diameter wheel), will seek to tackle these problems as a condition of continued planning permission.

The LEC proposes to pay more than £1.6million to restore the area, plus a further £300,000 a year to provide for clear-up operations. New CCTV cameras and security guards will assist the 16-strong team. It will also expand its base in County Hall next door, increasing exhibition, hospitality and, most importantly, toilet facilities. St Thomas' Hospital has complained that some visitors are so desperate they use its lavatories.

The decision to limit planning permission to 25 years followed submissions from English Heritage, which argued that due to the Eye's "scale, nature and sensitivity" it would be "prudent" to keep it under review. "The Eye may cease to be the popular attraction it is today and to be valued as a state-of-the-art piece of engineering," it told planners.

But BA rejected this, saying it would be a "failure of the imagination" to give it only 25 years.

"All the evidence points towards the enduring quality of the London Eye ... other comparable world city icons such as the Eiffel Tower and Empire State Building have proven the popularity of these structures."