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[202X] Project Horizon (SW9?): Planning Approved

Dobba said:
Recent responses
Responses from both the Staffordshire County Council's Historic Environment and Flood Risk Management teams have been added to the application in the last week or so, with them very much being a mixed bag at best for this project.

The SSC's HE Team have deferred to Historic England and the SCC's Conservation Officer echoing their views that the proposed building would 'have a detrimental impact on the setting of nearby heritage assets' and that relocating the development or redesigning it to be more 'modest' should be considered.

In better news, the FRM team have no concerns about planning permission being granted for this. Which is something, I guess.

Planning Committee Meeting
Looking ahead slightly, the agenda for next Thursday afternoon's Planning Applications Committee meeting has this evening been uploaded to the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council website.

Given its decision date has been listed as the same date as this meeting for a while now (and still is so), I'm not quite sure why application SMD/2022/0556 doesn't feature in it. Not going to pretend I know enough about the process of planning applications and what this means for the project in either the short or long term. Guess I'll just have to keep an eye on the application's page for the next eight days or so.
Click to expand...

I am still on the side of this project not looking too good. In it's current form at least.

I mean, Alton Towers have withdrawn applications in the past, so it could happen again. I think the location of a building where it is, is going to be a real sticking point.

I very much hope I am proven completely wrong, but the responses recently given, cements in my head even more that this is not going to pass through without significant revisions. Especially now that they are suggesting the building should be re designed.
 
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Think the most realistic change that could solve the issue of it being too close to the Flag Tower, without compromising on the size of the building, would be to shrink the plaza section and move this new building forward so that the back of it is level with the closest existing 'back of house' building to the FT. Whether that would be enough to get by the planners though is a different story.

To me this has all the hallmarks of a project that they're only interested in building in this section of the park so the relocating it idea is a complete non-starter.
 
Dobba said:
Given its decision date has been listed as the same date as this meeting for a while now (and still is so), I'm not quite sure why application SMD/2022/0556 doesn't feature in it. Not going to pretend I know enough about the process of planning applications and what this means for the project in either the short or long term. Guess I'll just have to keep an eye on the application's page for the next eight days or so.
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I've no idea what the situation for SMDC is, but many local authorities are encountering delays with dealing with planning applications, so it could just be a case of there are too many other applications in front of this one in the queue that need to go to committee.
 
Just checked the application page and noticed it now says the decision will be made by the planning committee with a committee date of Thursday 16th February listed, the date of February's Planning Applications Committee (at 2pm).

Opera Snapshot_2023-01-19_122951_publicaccess.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk.png

So the waiting game goes on a little longer but at least we now have a definitive date for when something will happen with this application.
 
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Got a odd feeling this won’t be successful, I’d be intrigued to see if it crops up elsewhere on park. Perhaps now is the time for the Air Car park expansion.


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Now this is intriguing... Cablestwisted on Discord just discovered that Project Horizon's queue line setup spells "SW9"!

(Photo shared with permission)

sw9_horizon2.png

A subtle clue, or just a coincidence? 👀
 
Skyscraper said:
Now this is intriguing... Cablestwisted on Discord just discovered that Project Horizon's queue line setup spells "SW9"!

(Photo shared with permission)

sw9_horizon2.png

A subtle clue, or just a coincidence?
Click to expand...
Neither. I have no idea who has a twisted cable on this discord thing I keep hearing about, but I presume they're either just trying to be "funny" or are the kind of person that has just discovered what happens when you type 80085 into a calculator.
 
Just wondering with some saying that if planning doesn't go well for Project Horizon if which kills of any future attraction in Coaster Corner then what next? I do wonder if Merlin do have a Plan B which is actually finally using the Dungeons building for an actual permeant dark attraction or, God forbid, even dig to allow for a coaster in there as whatever was in mind for Horizon?

Not sure how plausible if this is an idea they might have in mind but at least it could be a useful back up plan to use that existing building should Towers not get their way with Project Horizon and actually would be very welcoming to see them actually do something good with that building. Any dark ride for the park would be very welcoming for sure.
 
QTXAdsy said:
Just wondering with some saying that if planning doesn't go well for Project Horizon if which kills of any future attraction in Coaster Corner then what next? I do wonder if Merlin do have a Plan B which is actually finally using the Dungeons building for an actual permeant dark attraction or, God forbid, even dig to allow for a coaster in there as whatever was in mind for Horizon?

Not sure how plausible if this is an idea they might have in mind but at least it could be a useful back up plan to use that existing building should Towers not get their way with Project Horizon and actually would be very welcoming to see them actually do something good with that building. Any dark ride for the park would be very welcoming for sure.
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If Merlin do intend to use the Dungeons space for a free-to-enter family dark ride again, I don’t think it would be as a substitute for Project Horizon if it fails to obtain planning permission.

Project Horizon is costing £12.5m, while I’m not even sure that a revamp of the Dungeons building would even cost half that much. My hunch is that a retheme of that ride would fill a minor year rather than be an SW9 equivalent like Project Horizon is thought to be.

If Horizon does fail to gain planning permission, then I feel that they will probably propose something similar for a different part of the park. Admittedly, I’m struggling to think of areas where such a ride could feasibly go other than Coaster Corner, but I do feel that they would likely try and do something similar elsewhere in the park.

I think that Horizon could very plausibly gain planning consent, though.
 
Just seems to me that this project is coaster corner or bust.

It's indoors as they know its almost impossible they'll ever get permission to build any outdoor rides or attractions in that area again.

As its on the outskirts of the park they'd only need to theme the front of the building, anywhere else and they'd likely have to theme up multiple sides or even the whole thing.
 
Matt N said:
If Horizon does fail to gain planning permission, then I feel that they will probably propose something similar for a different part of the park. Admittedly, I’m struggling to think of areas where such a ride could feasibly go other than Coaster Corner, but I do feel that they would likely try and do something similar elsewhere in the park.
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Would the Galactica car park suffice for an indoor building with the same dimensions as the proposed building for Horizon?
 
I think the problem is, if or when they finally use the Air car park, you'd hope that the attraction would be more worthwhile than whatever little coaster (or whatever) they've pencilled in to fit inside the Horizon tin shed. Like mentioned a few posts up, I agree that the point of that building being planned for coaster corner is that realistically something squeezed in a tin shed is all they could ever hope to get planning permission for in that particular area.
 
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