• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

London Entertainment Resort: All Discussion

Well we know initial ideas/plans of what they want to do are being put forward for the first stage of public consultation later this year. The planning application is due at some point in 2015 following a second consultation stage.

:)
 
A Disney park doesn't work on the outskirts of Paris....?

Isn't in the top then most visited parks in the world?
 
Lordy said:
A Disney park doesn't work on the outskirts of Paris....?

Isn't in the top then most visited parks in the world?
Click to expand...

They built far far too many hotel rooms at DisneyLand Paris, this is what caused the resort to be unprofitable as it's taken them a log time to pay off the construction cost with the low occupancy rates.
 
Lordy said:
A Disney park doesn't work on the outskirts of Paris....?

Isn't in the top then most visited parks in the world?
Click to expand...

For the first few years of operation, Disneyland Paris was considered to be a complete disaster and arguably, it still hasn't really recovered. Disney had misunderstood the European market and completely misjudged the location. I think it was generally assumed that because the Disney formula had been applied to Tokyo so successfully, it would work anywhere.

Once the park opened, it emerged that European park-goers expected more thrilling rides than the standard Disney offering. As mentioned above, they also weren't keen on staying overnight for a resort that offered so little in terms of rides and parks. In an attempt to address this, more thrilling ride developments were rushed in such as Indiana Jones and Space Mountain. Later, the Studio was also hurried into existence to try and make it a resort worth staying the night for.

As for location, instead of benefiting from its proximity to Paris, it found itself competing with it. As it turns out, visitors to Paris are not necessarily the same type of people who would be interested in a theme park resort. Plus many guests from further afield had the option of visiting their own Disney parks at home. (These are further reasons that I have my doubts about Paramount Park and its location).

Even today, I don't think the park has managed to recover all of the money that has been poured into it and it's still not hitting its target attendance figures. I think that Paris put Disney off building more international parks for a long time. When they finally did build Hong Kong Disneyland, it was a far more cautious development than Paris.
 
Remember that councillors' trip to Orlando? Their findings have been posted here.

The key issue they have raised here is more transport investment, apologies I couldn't post the full report, but here are the main points:

Gravesham Borough Council said:
Transport
Given the development pressures on our area, transport is likely to be a key area of concern. Conditions here differ significantly from those in Florida and a multi-modal transport solution, with the operation of the theme park, in particular, designed to control the volume of peak hour car based trips on the local and trunk road network, will be essential. Investment in public transport and making use of the River Thames to encourage alternatives to the private car and service the development will also be important. Whilst not addressing traffic impacts on the A2 itself, emerging drawings indicate that a segregated access from the Ebbsfleet junction is proposed in order to minimise impact on the local road network and minimise impact on existing development sites.

Nature of the leisure offer
The leisure offer of London Paramount and its ancillary facilities will depend to a large extent on its target market. It was evident from the Florida theme parks that there were a number of common features in terms of design and operation that are likely to be replicated locally - such as the segregation of public areas from support functions and service access. We need to understand how this would work at Swanscombe Peninsula and what it means for adjoining areas.

Employment and skills
The Florida theme parks served to demonstrate that a variety of employment and skills levels would be needed to support London Paramount and ancillary development in the leisure and hospitality sectors. This is likely to provide full and part-time job opportunities for people of all ages not just in low paid employment or on a seasonal basis. Ensuring potential employees have the right skills to take advantage of these opportunities will therefore be important. There may therefore be a training role for schools and local colleges in developing the courses to put these skills in place.

Conclusions
London Paramount represents a significant regeneration opportunity at a sub-regional or regional scale from which our area stands to benefit immeasurably. It provides the opportunity to re-balance the local economy and replace many of those jobs lost with the decline of our traditional heavy industrial base over the past half century.

A key message from the trip must be that we should have the ambition and vision to fully exploit the advantages that London Paramount may bring by building upon our existing strengths and local opportunities to complement its offer. The aim should be to exploit London Paramount as a catalyst for change and to develop the potential of the wider area for destination leisure.

Key questions
With the implementation of London Paramount and its implications in terms of land-take in the Ebbsfleet Valley, what now happens to the remainder of this site and how will this be integrated with adjoining communities and other development sites to work in a coherent way?

What other opportunities exist for destination leisure (including hotels and other support facilities) and where might they be located?

How do we ensure that the River Thames is itself considered a key asset that has a role to play not only in terms of transport but also as a complementary leisure resource?

How do we ensure that local people are equipped with the necessary skills and training to take advantage of employment opportunities likely to arise?

Other considerations
As the London Paramount Resort proposals are developed, the Council will have a major role to play in shaping the planning application that will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate's NSIP team – anticipated in August 2015. In addition, with the announcement of an Urban Development Corporation (UDC) being set up in the area, which will directly affect the residents of Gravesham, the Council's role in representing local people is becoming even more critical. However, in its community leadership role, the Council is well placed to lead debate locally to
ensure, where possible, that the various stakeholders have a voice and that competing aspirations can be discussed and appropriate input made.

To that end it is recommended that a Stakeholder Forum is established, chaired by the Leader of the Council, in order that briefings can be broadened and discussions can occur. This forum is to be formed from elected members, local businesses, the Charity or Third Sector, as it is known, as well as interested focus and community interest groups.

From that Forum, a further 'executive group', with a representative from the different interest groups will be formed to help Members consider responses on this proposal. This 'executive group' will be comprised of four borough Members, and a representative from each of the business', charity and community groups.

It is intended that there will be cross-party input into these groups, the final composition of which will be determined by the Leader of the Executive in consultation with the leader of the Conservative group, for which authority is sought.

The forum and, in particular, the 'executive group' will be a key part of informing both the community on some of the detail of these projects coming to Gravesham as well as acting as a conduit for feeding views back to the decision makers for both the Paramount scheme as well as the UDC, whose area of proposed
responsibility also includes the area of the Paramount project.
Click to expand...
There were a number of other points made in addition to those above, so I would definitely recommend a read :)

Source
 
Last edited:
That all sounds nice and positive to me. Hopefully if it does all go ahead as planned there will be relatively lax planning restrictions on the park meaning that there are not too many issues when it comes to building coasters etc. in the future. I'd imagine specific planning policy for the park will be drawn up once it is all confirmed.

:)
 
Sound very positive, good to see they did actually spot key issues.

Also good to note they also maintained their typical red tape bureaucratic let's get as many committee executive sub committee cross party..... sorry... YAWN.

Anyone ever dealt with ex-council members of this ilk will know EXACTLY what I am on about.

Not saying they're all the same, but, it generally takes six months to pass something that can be done in few hours.
 
More positive news regarding Paramount Park:
Construction Europe said:
Plans for the £2 billion (€2.54 billion) Paramount entertainment resort at Swanscombe, Kent, have taken a step closer after initial government approval has been granted.
Project director Fenlon Dunphy, of London Resort Company Holdings, confirmed a timeline for the major UK scheme - which will create 27,000 jobs and deliver significant infrastructure upgrades during its phased four-year construction.
Developers behind the Disney-style site aim to make it the “best entertainment attraction in Europe” and believe it will deliver a range of economic benefits.
Its facilities will include a centrepiece theme park attraction linked to Paramount and based around some of the movie studio’s biggest blockbuster films.
In addition, there will a water park, sporting facilities and hotel accommodation for 5,000 visitors.
Construction tenders for the scheme will be sought from the first quarter of 2015, following initial planning acceptance for the scheme this summer.
The project is set to border another high-profile project, Ebbsfleet garden city, which centres on plans for 15,000 new homes. Crucially, both developments would have access to the HS1 high-speed rail service to London.
Mr Dunphy described the development as a “game changing project” that will offer construction and employment opportunities as a major tourism destination.
He said, “Paramount resort has been accepted as a nationally important infrastructure project and we are expecting the scheme to gain full planning permission next year.
“This is very much intended as a resort rather than a day-visitor attraction. There will be the theme park, but we will also have a number of entertainment facilities including cinemas, theatre and dining around the site.
“There will also be a water park and a creative industries hub - which we hope will become a centre of excellence for businesses.”
The director responded to concerns on the need for urgent infrastructure improvements in tandem with the site’s development, highlighting the issue as a core priority for the company.
He confirmed the park would create up to 17,000 on-site jobs, bolstered by 10,000 further roles to be created in the wider economy through supply services.
The resort is expected to generate peak footfall of more than 15 million visitors a year following its planned opening in Easter, 2020.
Click to expand...

Must say I think they'll do well to attract 15 million visitors a year, although I suppose that figure isn't just for the theme park. Can't wait until we see some concepts and designs for the theme park!

:)
 
15 Million is quite a stretch to me, That's basically a quarter of the country visiting! It's also just barely above what both Disney parks in Europe got last year and the IP is far stronger than Paramount. I do hope they won't do what Disney did in 1992 and overestimate the number of guests.
 
If I was Merlin, this would make me nervous.

That's more than the combined visitor figures for all their major parks.
 
TedTheHuman said:
15 Million is quite a stretch to me, That's basically a quarter of the country visiting! It's also just barely above what both Disney parks in Europe got last year and the IP is far stronger than Paramount. I do hope they won't do what Disney did in 1992 and overestimate the number of guests.
Click to expand...

Depends how much of the tourist/overseas market they reckon they'll reach, which could be quite high given the transport links on the train...
 
The 15m fig will be for the whole development, inc the theme park, water park, entertainment area. That doesn't seem to un realistic as many shopping centres are way above that number, Westfield at Stratford City attracted 38m guests/visits in 2013.
 
It'll struggle to reach 15 million, even if it's the best theme park ever. With its close proximity to London, it'll certainly be able to get a lot of international guests, which is a must for an attraction this size. But 15 million? I somehow doubt it.
 
The proposed opening of the park has been put back a year after reassessing the feasibility of the original timescale, with plans now aiming to open in Easter 2020 instead of Summer 2019. This means that planning permission is now looking to be submitted in Autumn next year, leading to construction starting in Winter 2016.

Whilst this is slightly disappointing, I would agree that Easter would be a better time to open in comparison to the Summer :)

Kent Online said:
The grand opening of the £2bn Paramount entertainment resort proposed for north Kent has been put back by nearly a year.

London Resort Company Holdings, the company behind the project, is now aiming to welcome the first visitors in Easter 2020.

The change was made after bosses reassessed the feasibility of their original timescale announced in July, which had targeted an opening date in the spring or summer of 2019.

Speaking a the Construction and Manufacturing Expo at the Kent Showground in Detling last week, London Resort Company Holdings revealed much of their timescale for the resort on the Swanscombe Peninsula has been put back.

Rather than submitting planning permission in the summer of next year, the firm now aims to do so in the autumn.

This will put back the Secretary of State’s decision to approve the site – and the beginning of construction – to the winter of 2016.

“That is a tall order,” said London Resort Company Holdings director Fenlon Dunphy, who is also a director of KEH, the Kuwaiti-based financial backers of the project who also own Ebbsfleet United FC.

“We have a lot of work to do and it is progressing well but there is a mountain of stuff to do.

“It is always better to open at Easter and in order to achieve our opening date, we are now showing Easter 2020.”

A team of nearly 50 designers are working in London to draw up how the resort will look. Detailed design work is expected to run until 2016.

The company is planning to launch supply chain events next year. These will run in the form of workshops and “one-to-one engagements”.

London Paramount Entertainment Resort will be expected to create 27,000 jobs – 17,000 on site – and attract 15m visitors a year by its fourth year of opening.

More than 2,000 people attended the first round of consultation in the summer, with many people raising concerns about transport to the site.

Between 2-3m customers a year will be expected to arrive on HS1 and 200,000 to 300,000 by the River Thames.

The resort will have a catchment area of 45m people living within a two-hour journey. That is the same size as Disneyland Paris.

As well as improving the road infrastructure, bosses hinted they aim to lobby government to extend the Crossrail link to Ebbsfleet. At present, the project aims to go as far as Abbey Wood.

Mr Dunphy said: “There’s a logic and reason for it to continue. If you have got homes there as part of a garden city, and us there too, there’s a logic and we would love it to come down. We would encourage it.”

The next stage of the consultation on the Paramount resort is due to begin next month.

It will run at 12 different venues around Gravesham and Dartford over the course of 10 days, beginning on November 5.

Businesses interested in working on the project should register their interest by emailing [email protected].
Click to expand...

Source
 
Don't know if it has already been posted but that email address has led me to find the project website. Looks like there are also Facebook and Twitter pages to follow.

:)
 
I reckon it's better that they've given themselves more time to avoid the park being unfinished when it opens. It would be a disaster if a park of this supposed quality were to open at a low standard.
 
Indeed, there are bound to be problems and delays between now and when it does open; it's such a massive project. Easter 2020 seems a realistic target at present.

:)
 
It brings more good than bad in my opinion. If it were to open in the Summer, it would shortly have to close for Winter Maintenance afterwards, it will make the park fill quite packed as everyone wants to go there before the Winter. But Easter allows more time for people to visit so there isn't really a rush. Not to mention that the attractions themselves wouldn't be rushed either.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top