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London Entertainment Resort: All Discussion

As much as I agree that the country needs to move away from being so London centric, and that there are for more sites across the country in need of development, perhaps more so than here, I don't think the location is poor. For the type of complex it is appearing to be, it'll be a destination resort rather than your average Merlin park, and so will draw people travelling from miles around (assuming it is a decent attraction).

It's not going to compete with Merlin parks, nor will it against DLRP. But it will be something fresh and hopefully akin to our Orlando brothers, and that in itself should get Merlin thinking. And if not, then there will finally be something better on these shores
 
Dave said:
So at best my journey will be 3.5 hours each way (no chance of walking off one train arriving at KC and walking onto another train about to leave so factoring in some waiting around) and cost me a fair wack before I pay to get in.
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Not much waiting around from St panc. 10\15 mins at most. All trains south stop at Ebbsfleet.
 
BBC must have been listening and kindly produced this report for me:

LONDON tops world cities destination chart:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-28216118

NOW tell me this country can't have a proper Universal Orlando type theme park.

We've needed one for years! Even the Tories recognise this by giving it it's national significance rating. I just hope the investors etc think big and deliver something of the magnitude the world's top visited city demands and deserves.

Still not a fan of London mind you :flushed:
 
IanB said:
If you were to drive down, that would make it a lot cheaper, and getting a coach would be even cheaper as you could go for the day.

People from up north go to Legoland/Thrope/Harry Potter Studio so I do not see why this would be any different.

Ian
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This. In terms of UK visitors if it is a quality attraction then people will visit. For starters there is a huge local population. Then there's people who will make day trips out, I'm sure many people are prepared to travel 2-3 hours for a family trip out etc.

It is a fantastic location for a park. If they get it right in terms of what is there, marketing and transport it could be a hit with national and international visitors. There's no reason why people having holiday's to London would not try and visit.

:)
 
It's also worth pointing out that there's the potential development of a huge new airport in the Thames Estuary, and the possible sites for this are within easy reach of the proposed site for Paramount Kent. This airport could well replace Heathrow, and with a complex like this not too far from the airport, there's the potential for even more visitors to visit the place as part of a holiday to the UK.
 
Highly doubt Boris Island will be happening anytime soon though - especially not with all the redevelopment that's taken (and is taking) place at Heathrow currently.

I love the discussion in this thread though - shows how exciting the whole idea is. However I keep having to remind myself that this is still a long way off and it may never get off the ground :(
 
Scott said:
However I keep having to remind myself that this is still a long way off and it may never get off the ground :(
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Given the discussions and how far down the line it is, you really don't push into Government territory in big commercial developments like this without it having a good chance of succeeding.

There is so much in it's favour, it will be very attractive to investors.
 
At the moment there's more indicating that it will happen than it will not. That has to be seen as a huge positive!

:)
 
Please don't forget london is not the bottom of the country! Kent n Sussex are below so when u guys are so anti london don't forget there is a big community south of the capital!
 
At what point did I say this didn't have a local population able to support it? I merely argued against an earlier statement that this was ideally placed for the whole country.... No it isn't. Ian if it takes over three hours on train it will take even longer in car.

TheMan said:
BBC must have been listening and kindly produced this report for me:

LONDON tops world cities destination chart:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-28216118

NOW tell me this country can't have a proper Universal Orlando type theme park.

We've needed one for years! Even the Tories recognise this by giving it it's national significance rating. I just hope the investors etc think big and deliver something of the magnitude the world's top visited city demands and deserves.

Still not a fan of London mind you :flushed:
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IF we get a universal style park.... Non of the existing paramount developments seem to be threatening that level of quality and no one seems to answer the funding issue and the large number of dividend seeking investors attaching themselves to this project.

The government will assess thus based on jobs created and tax collected, not whether the park has some lovely theming.

As with everything I simply suggest not getting hopes to high :)
 
TheMan said:
Given the discussions and how far down the line it is, you really don't push into Government territory in big commercial developments like this without it having a good chance of succeeding.
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Actually, both John Broome's Battersea Power Station park and Britannia Park had significant government support, yet were still huge failures - so it's no guarantee!
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Do we really want government approved theme parks? It sounds a bit North Korea to me.
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Yes. Despite the joke, it ensures a speedy planning process and if the project is described as being nationally significant then it encourages infrastructure and so on and so forth.

Basically, yes. It's good. :p
 
Dave said:
As with everything I simply suggest not getting hopes to high :)
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Oh I'm not remotely. I am merely talking about the fact the figures etc suggest that the UK could in fact support a full UK style Universal attraction.

In fact if it was properly "Universal Studios" then I would be rather more excited. For me this just opens that debate rather excellently that has been pondered much on just how big a theme park could the UK operate and I think in London given it's most visited city status, we can certainly support a truly world class attraction.

Alton Towers COULD have been a smaller version of it but Merlin have screwed that up. Not Universal scale admittedly, but one people would visit, these things are sustainable in the UK.
 
I'm still on the fence about this. I fear that perhaps the theme park element of this development is a little overstated at the moment, as the press are much more likely to jump on the 'brand new theme park for the UK' element of the development than any of the conference facilities etc. As great as it would be to have a brand new 'out of the box' theme park being built here in the UK, I can't help but think that the theme park will initially start off as a scaled down park, with only a smaller number of attractions than what we're necessarily seeing on the plans. The conference and education facilities will be what brings in the money, and what will ultimately fund expansion of the theme park side of things.

Maybe I'll be wrong, and I hope I will be. But, I'm just unsure that ride hardware costs etc taken into account, that they will be able to secure such a massive amount of funding straight away to get massive dark rides, woodies and the like at once. Instead, perhaps we'll see something that will initially open and expand over the course of maybe 5 years or so.
 
More news :) Construction is aimed to begin Autumn 2016 for a Summer 2019 opening.

Kent Online said:
Construction of the proposed Paramount resort could get under way in the autumn of 2016 with an opening in the summer of 2019, it has been revealed.

Developers behind the £2billion scheme to transform the derelict Swanscombe Peninsula have outlined a proposed timetable for the project as the first informal phase of the public consultation gets under way today.

London Resort Company Holdings has growing confidence in its plans after gaining special government status bypassing local planning rules last month.

Full details of the entertainment project are expected to be unveiled in October when the first formal stage of the public consultation gets under way.

A series of public meetings are being held this month for people to tell developers how they want to receive information as the scheme progresses.

These are taking place at:

Ebbsfleet Academy (in the sports hall), Southfleet Road, Swanscombe, DA10 0BZ today from 2pm to 8pm;
Eastgate (North Kent Community Church), 141 Springhead Parkway, Gravesend, DA11 8AD on Friday from 11am to 2pm
British Legion Greenhithe, London Road, Greenhithe, DA9 9EJ on Friday from 4.30pm to 8pm
Swanscombe Leisure Centre, Craylands Lane, Swanscombe, DA10 0LP on Saturday from noon to 5pm
Set to be named London Paramount Entertainment Resort, it is expected to create 27,000 jobs and will feature a water park, theme park, sporting facilities, an entertainment street, a staff training academy and about 5,000 hotel rooms.

Project leader Tony Sefton said: "We are committed to the consultation timetable.

"Come October, the next stage of exhibitions will be more detailed. Then the fun stuff starts to come out. The key message is 'it's coming'. It's happening now."

As well as being a tourist attraction, the resort also aims to create an Experience Valley.

It is hoped 200 new businesses could form a hub for the UK's creative industries there, in the style of Silicon Valley for digital companies in the United States.

This includes plans for more than 50 acres of commercial letting space and a 21,000sqm Creative Industry Hub.

It is expected there will be an annual reinvestment of £30m in the resort's core entertainment products, with a preference given to onsite and local suppliers.

About 100 people are working for London Resort Company Holdings on the project, mainly on a consultancy basis.

London Resort Company Holdings also believes the project will encourage between 200,000 and 300,000 customers onto water taxis up the River Thames.

They predict 15 million people will visit each year – including 15,000 to 17,000 staff daily – which has prompted big plans for transport infrastructure investment.

These include a monorail linking Ebbsfleet International with the resort.

Project leader Tony Sefton wants the site to encourage visitors onto public transport and aims for it to have the "lowest modal mix" of car parking spaces of any resort of its kind in the world.

The team also believes the site will act as a "catalyst" for a new 15,000 home garden city at Ebbsfleet.

This could include a Paramount University at the Ebbsfleet Academy, preparing people for jobs in the area.

KEH director Fenlon Dunphy said: "Not a lot comes along on this scale. The infrastructure work on this is massive and it needs something of our size to complete it.

"We see ourselves as the catalyst to regeneration of the area as a garden city and we view the project as a cornerstone to that working."

Mr Sefton added: "We will provide all the fun stuff for the area. We will have a lot of sport and arts. It should be a great place to live."


The road to launching the London Paramount Entertainment Resort

May 2014 - Gains status as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, bypassing local planning requirements

June 2014 - Begins first phase of public consultation, asking residents and interested parties how they would like to be told about the plans

Autumn to winter 2014 - First stage of formal public consultation

Spring to summer 2015 - Second stage of formal public consultation

Summer 2015 - Apply for planning permission direct to central government, known as a development consent order

Summer 2015 to Summer 2016 - Detailed design work and procurement of contracts

Autumn 2016 - Decision by Secretary of State

Autumn 2016 to spring 2019 - Construction

Summer 2019 - Grand opening
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Source
 
The more stuff like this that comes out the more hopeful I think we can be. I know I'm being rather optamistic about this project but I really do think there is reason to be. Sounds like we might be seeing some of the more juicy details of what exactly it might be in October, that should be good!

:)
 
It does seem to fit in with the garden city idea and a monorail from ebbsfleet! Theses plenty of space as the carpark is empty!!!
 
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