THE owner of the Newcastle Jesters ice hockey club has said he will not seriously consider proposals for a new purpose-built rink until he sees plans "in black and white".

Paul Smith was approached by an unnamed North-East entrepreneur regarding the possibility of developing a sporting arena on a site in Gateshead.

The Jesters currently play home matches at the Telewest Arena, Newcastle, where they also have their offices.

But the "wealthy individual's" plan is to have a new arena, based around an ice rink and purpose-built for sport, possibly with the club as the venue's centrepoint.

Mr Smith said: "It was going top be like a sports entertainment village built around an ice arena."

But Mr Smith, managing director of the Eye group, which owns the club, said the talks were "very preliminary" at this stage. The businessman had approached him and he listened to his ideas.

The man is said to have "substantial" land available in Gateshead, but has not even identified the site to the club. He has asked the Jesters for a wish list so he can further his plans.

Although Mr Smith said the club had not been very happy with the speed with which the new owners of the Telewest Arena, SMG, had got to grips with running the venue, he feels the support from the day-to-day staff there had been excellent and any decision to leave would not be taken lightly.

"Until we see something in black and white in terms of an offer, I won't be taking it seriously and even then I've got to weigh it up," he said.