Doomed Dome was mooted as a tribute to Diana

THE Millennium Dome was briefly mooted to become a tribute to Diana, the Princess of Wales, and also faced the prospect of being scrapped altogether, as previously classified documents reveal the doomed project was in serious trouble more than two years before it opened.

Tony Blair endured major concerns about the future of the landmark development as soon as his New Labour government agreed to continue with the project first conceived by his predecessor, John Major.

Even in the middle of 1997, there were fears the Dome, in Greenwich, east London, may not be completed in time, that it would fail to attract the eight million visitors required, and would overheat in summer.

The death of Diana, in a car crash on August 31, 1997, caused some involved to call for the Dome to reflect the tragedy.

A letter to the Prime Minister by his director of communications, Alastair Campbell, two days later described how Sam Chisolm, on the Dome’s board, proposed the “Millennium project be completely refashioned and extended, to accommodate, for example, a hospital, businesses, charities, private residences, and the whole thing named ‘the Princess Diana Centre’”.

Other correspondence, released by the National Archives, disclosed how Mr Chisolm envisioned an “eighth wonder of the world” attraction with a range of facilities, technology and housing, and being a “lasting and appropriate tribute by the people to Diana”.

Ministers were told the idea would “not go down particularly well with the royal family”, something Mr Chisolm claimed to see “as a pretty big plus”, the documents suggest.