British skiers may not have to travel so far to reach European skiing thanks to the creation of a 'City of Sport' at the French end of the Channel Tunnel, due to be operational by winter 2003-4.

The 150 million euro project in Victory Park, and a second complex themed on a 'virtual garden' inspired by the successful Futuroscope theme park should create some 450 jobs.

The area has been developed by Eurotunnel since 1992 and already includes the successful Cité Europe shopping complex which incorporates a Carrefour hypermarket and 130 shops and attracts 18 million visitors per annum.

The Victory Parc project will have a flat entry fee of around 20 euros (£12) for which visitors have access to golf, an indoor ski run, boating centre, mountain biking, climbing walls, horse riding and football pitch. The complex will include a 300 bed hotel, sports shop complex, four restaurants and a conference centre.

The cost of the project is to be borne by local community government, banks and the private companies involved in equal proportion. US firm IMG Mac Cormack is behind the development which is due to begin construction in the autumn and be completed within about 15 months of the start date.

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