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Camelot - gone for good?

Definitely a bizarre one this. Absolutely nothing about it adds up, other than the council seem to not want to grant permission for housing on the site, almost as if they’re forcing the point of reopening a leisure destination.

But then they didn’t want to grant planning for the old Vekoma years ago.

It’s almost as if the British planning system doesn’t make sense…
 
James Watkins said:
Probably unrelated but the Camelot website has also recently been reactivated - exactly as it was from 2012. Weird!
https://www.camelotthemepark.co.uk/
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Was it ever switched off? I noticed it last week after going on the wayback machine for this & flambards. It's strange they've deleted the booking hyperlink and kept everything else as essentially a time capsule, including a post about winning a 2013 season pass. 😄
 
ACX96 said:
Was it ever switched off? I noticed it last week after going on the wayback machine for this & flambards. It's strange they've deleted the booking hyperlink and kept everything else as essentially a time capsule, including a post about winning a 2013 season pass. 😄
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Yes was taken down at the end of 2012. Reckon a thoosie bought the URL and restored it :)
 
James Watkins said:
thoosie
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Go Away GIF


😜
 
James Watkins said:
Yes was taken down at the end of 2012. Reckon a thoosie bought the URL and restored it :)
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The domain registration must've lapsed at some point because it was last registered in 2020.

It does appears the currently online version is made up of flat HTML files knocked together with assets from the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine or some other scraped backup, rather than being the actual original PHP assets reinstated.

Note the differing file extensions:
Code: 
https://web.archive.org/web/20120825214602/http://www.camelotthemepark.co.uk/merlins-wizardry.php
https://www.camelotthemepark.co.uk/merlins-wizardry.html

This could have been covered up with rewrites, like the Wayback Machine does, but the fact it hasn't been is a bit of a tell that this isn't the original site being 'woken up' but rather a recreation.
 
Third time round...
The area is long term planned green belt and leisure.
Story Housing know this, but keep submitting plans that will be refused, as there are very large areas locally that are for planned housing development under the old Central Lancashire "new town (that isn't)" plans.

Story's got the land cheap in the full knowledge of this, because it is leisure only...

I would say rebuilding the park has more chance than housing.

And there is no chance of the theme park reopening.
 
I think housing will eventually get approved on this site, purely because the council will realise there is no chance of anybody developing a permanent leisure facility here. With the governments new push for housing, and with the change in the planning laws coming. I could see this eventually getting approved.
 
Why was the site ever sold for housing if the council evidently has no intent of ever letting housing be built there? Isn’t that something the buyers should probably have sized up before buying the plot?

A housing company owned the land for a good few years prior to the closure, didn’t they, with the park effectively being put into managed decline in order to justify its eventual closure? With this in mind, why is it that Story Homes ever bought the site in the first place rather than another theme park operator?
 
Speculation over land values Matt.
They purchased the land cheap, with the hope of getting a change of planning.
They failed, and keep failing.
JAperson said:
I think housing will eventually get approved on this site, purely because the council will realise there is no chance of anybody developing a permanent leisure facility here. With the governments new push for housing, and with the change in the planning laws coming. I could see this eventually getting approved.
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As already said, there is a mass of land available in the local area, better suited to housing, with access to amenities, roads and trains already laid on, planned and designated for future housing.

The Camelot site is surrounded by open scrubland, public footpaths and lakes, it is already used locally, permanently, for leisure!

Camelot site isn't suitable...no decent services, no access to motorways, no access to the local train services to Manchester, the main local commuter zone...whatever Story's solicitors say.

The company are speculative builders, buy cheap, attempt to get a change in planning, and win big.
Except they keep losing.
Four times so far I think, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019, and again now.
Kicked out each time as outside the permitted area with a mass of objections from the loaded locals...completely acceptable when there are many planned and approved building zones within ten miles.
 
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rob666 said:
Camelot site isn't suitable...no decent services, no access to motorways, no access to the local train services to Manchester, the main local commuter zone...whatever Story's solicitors say.
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But on the other hand, nobody is going to want to stay as an abandonded theme park forever, so it makes sense to eventually do something with it. The council are aware of this, and surely will likely cave into some kind of residential development, just maybe on a smaller scale than Story keep suggesting.
 
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