HERITAGE-LOVERS have welcomed a project to turn Chester's amphitheatre into a major tourist attraction, but say it's a shame the city council gave permission for a court house to be built on the other half.

This week the council joined forces with English Heritage to promote the important but undervalued historic site for the benefit of residents and visitors alike.

This follows a dogged campaign by Chester Amphitheatre Trust, the Civic Trust and Chester Archaeological Society.

A Press release issued at the launch event boasted that the scheme will attract an extra 40,000 visitors to Chester, create 150 jobs and bring £5m investment to the local economy.

Dr Liane Smith, chairman of the Amphitheatre Trust, welcomed the three-year project, but can never forgive the Lord Chancellor's office for building a county court at the site or the city council for giving it planning permission.

She said: 'It's a travesty of justice that it was ever built and it's ironic that it's a court of law sanctioned by that twit the Lord Chancellor. If I ever saw him I would punch him on the nose.

'It was a decision that should never have been allowed to go forward.'

Previously the city council's relationship had been strained with English Heritage over its hard-line stance on the need to protect the Georgian Dee House, which stands on part of the site.

Dr Smith, a metallurgist, of Waverton, said: 'We have now got two large organisations working together with huge resources in terms of the archae-ological expertise they can draw upon.'

The project will involve major digs this summer and next, with adults and children able to watch archaeologists working at close quarters using special walkways.

In the Chester Visitor Centre, where the launch event was held, people will be able to see the experts cleaning and sorting the artefacts.

Exhibitions will describe the project. Updates will be given on the website www.chesteramphitheatre. gov.uk.

In autumn 2005 an international amphitheatre conference will take place, focusing on the findings in Chester and the mysteries yet to be answered.

Sir Neil Cossons, chairman of English Heritage, told an audience at the launch event: 'It's been one of the great hidden assets of Chester for a long time.

'It's been there but we've only seen half of it. Perhaps we have not done the right thing by the amphitheatre but part of the remit is to restore some of the dignity as well as learn more about it.'

He said the 1960s brick wall which cut through the site would come down, allowing careful excavations on the other side but without affecting the operations of the county court.

David Miles, English Heritage's chief archaeologist, said Chester was one of the great historic towns of England, ranking alongside Canterbury, London and 'even York'.

But he added: 'It's the only one with a legionary amphitheatre but it's a legionary amphitheatre we could do a lot more with. It looks like a traffic island, that's a pity.'

He said there was a thirst for answers such as when it was built and how it was integrated into the legionary fortress.

'The Romans appreciated it was the gateway to the North West and the key to holding Wales, that's why they kept an army based here,' said Mr Miles, who hopes one day people will think of Chester when they hear the word Gladiator instead of Russell Crowe, the star of the blockbuster film of that name.

Mr Miles said the amphitheatre may also have developed as a post-Roman defensive citadel, a centre of power and a focal point of the early Church.

'The early Christian development around the site is central to our understanding of the way the city developed in medieval times and we hope that the project will contribute to our understanding of this period of Chester's past,' he said.

Cllr Ann Farrell, who chaired the event, said: 'Chester Amphitheatre is an important part of Chester's heritage, but as long as I have been in Chester it has been a rather sad and rather unwelcoming place save for a few events staged there.'

She said this project would 'change the scene completely'.

City council leader David Evans said: 'This really is good for the city of Chester and I think it's a day the people of Chester have wanted for a long time.

'I think almost everybody in Chester wants to know what's underneath the rest of the amphitheatre.

'For us to start that process is something we are all delighted to see.'