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London Entertainment Resort: All Discussion

Genuine question - are there any/many precedents for SSSI's such as this to be approved for development on?
 
Tom said:
Genuine question - are there any/many precedents for SSSI's such as this to be approved for development on?
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They are a strange thing. Many of them are created by industry and developments rather than being natural, such as reservoirs and mining pits.

One near where I grew up, Thurrock Chalk Pit, still has a small nature reserve which remains an SSSI, but the vast majority of the original SSSI is now Lakeside shopping centre and the sprawling Chafford Hundred housing development. I'm sure preserving some area were part of planning, but the majority was lost to development.
 
pluk said:
All these comments about where in the country would be better for a themepark entirely miss the point of this site. It's just by Ebsleet international train station with a direct and quick link to DLRP and actual Paris. The domestic market is only a part of what they are/were chasing, with Europe and a two center theme park destination being a big part of it. Nowhere in the country offers that sort of easy access to so many international visitors.

It is undeniably an excellent location to for such a development, much better than anywhere in the country I can think of.
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I'm very with you. As someone who has links to the area I don't know what people are talking about with the traffic issues. With the additional tunnel being built that will help and most traffic issues are around rush hour(s). It's totally manageable and the park has said evening entertainment is being provided to encourage guests to stay past the bad periods.

I myself have issues with both Ashford and Ebbsfleet Eurostar services closed temporarily whilst the pandemic is causing havoc with Eurostar. In addition Kent, Essex, Sussex and London have huge populations that would easily frequently use the park. (Alot bigger than Wales or Scotland)

I'm not sure if any of you have also seen but the Spanish train operator has applied to use the euro tunnel route and tracks to compete with Eurostar to provide more services from around Europe.

The area is a flat derelict dumping ground, the area has Bluewater which is a draw for many and a vast number of towns that could provide the man power that is required.

Really don't get why alot of you hate the location!!? Is it because it's not in central England?
 
rob666 said:
Because eighty percent of probable visitors in this country have to get past the capital to visit, which isn't easy.
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No they don't, they just have to go a bit near the capital for a fairly short stretch on the M25, no more so than everyone in the south has to 'get passed' Birmingham to get to AT. The QE2 bridge doesn't have anything like the issues it used to now the toll booths are gone, it's just a stretch of road like any other.

It's a busy corner of the country, but not prohibitively so.
 
If you’re coming down from the M1, M40 or A1 that’s far from just a short stretch of the M25, that’s a quarter of it minimum ticking up to half of it for the M40. The issue is not so much the M25 when it’s running fine, it’s the lack of redundancy if the M25 has an incident, which is all too frequent. The surrounding roads are bad enough already, so diversions aren’t really possible and the ULEZ/LEZ make things even more difficult for drivers to divert now too.

Comparing things to Alton Towers, whilst the local roads aren’t great, at least there are major road options on either side of the place should there be an accident on one of the motorways. Sure it won’t suit everyone, but a large proportion of people can use the M1 if the M6 is shut or vice versa. Yes, you could argue you could go the other way around the M25, but it’s still the same road the likelihood is if one side has issues, the other will be hideously congested too.

The new crossing is great and removing the toll booths on the existing crossings has helped, but much like London Resort it’s still in the planning stages with a new application not due to go in until next year. Realistically, that means it’s not going to be a thing until probably at least 2028 (still probably before anything comes along London Resort wise mind!). Likewise with additions to the Channel Tunnel, those new operators are planned, and much like Deutsche Bahn wanting to run trains through may not even come to anything.

My main issue is more the above than it not being “not in Central England” (most things are South to me anyway!), although I do question whether putting something so far south that it’s realistically out of reach for many in the north and Scotland for a day trip is wise. International visitors are great, but considering the growth in domestic tourism in the past couple of years it seems a little unwise to rely on them so heavily while putting off many who are in the country already.
 
Craig said:
The new crossing is great and removing the toll booths on the existing crossings has helped, but much like London Resort it’s still in the planning stages with a new application not due to go in until next year. Realistically, that means it’s not going to be a thing until probably at least 2028 (still probably before anything comes along London Resort wise mind!). Likewise with additions to the Channel Tunnel, those new operators are planned, and much like Deutsche Bahn wanting to run trains through may not even come to anything.
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You just have to remember to register for DartCharge and top up your account before every crossing. The amount of drivers who received penalty notices in it's first year was insane.
 
AT is relatively central, sandwiced between the M1 and M6 and easily accessible for most of the English and Welsh population who can get to it in under 4 hours, including the large population of London. You can easily M1 it from the east and much of the north. Now that the Oldbury viaduct works have finally finished, you can also spread traffic loads between the M5/M6 and M42/ M6 toll routes (I usually took the latter during the works that seemed to last forever).

Unless coming from the midlands, London, East coast, the south east or eastern parts of the South coast, Kent is either very far away or your options are very limited. I'm not saying there aren't large populations of people there to choose from - but you're talking way over 4 hours even if the stars align traffic wise from major cities like Leeds, Bradford, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle. That's before we even consider the journey for the Scots - it's a whole country away from them. Similar story from the west as your only options are A303/M3 (A303 at grade interchanges and Stonehenge bottleneck), M5/A40 (the less said about that route the better) or M4/M25 where hitting Heathrow for much of the day can easily rack up another hour to the journey making Bristol, Cardiff, Newport, Exeter, Gloucester less accessible as well.

Wherever a theme park is located, someone will always have to travel far but I don't understand the logic of building one so "major" in what is effectively a corner of the country that is the wrong side of London for huge parts of the domestic population. If it was more regional like Thorpe or Chessington then it would make sense as there's plenty of punters within easy reach but I don't understand why you would want to alienate such large swaths of the country in the North, West, Scotland and Wales?

Or does this show how rediculous the whole project was? An imaginary park so spectacular that people would travel from every corner of the country and continental Europe for multi day trips?
 
Wouldn’t it make sense for these investors to buy a park already running?

mom sure Merlin would sell Chessington, Mingoland must have a price?
 
Jb85 said:
Wouldn’t it make sense for these investors to buy a park already running?

mom sure Merlin would sell Chessington, Mingoland must have a price?
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Neither of those places has anywhere near the space or planning permissions to be able realise the scope of what they wanted to do with this project. Chessington specifically.

It is like asking Tesco to buy a corner shop.
 
If this gets the go ahead, would it be fair to say that under the agreed terms, LER might have some of the most lax planning restrictions of any park in Britain?
 
Matt N said:
If this gets the go ahead, would it be fair to say that under the agreed terms, LER might have some of the most lax planning restrictions of any park in Britain?
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No it has an SSSI designation which will make planning a nightmare. So perhaps originally but with that designation I'm afraid that's probably not going to be the case.
 
JAperson said:
No it has an SSSI designation which will make planning a nightmare. So perhaps originally but with that designation I'm afraid that's probably not going to be the case.
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Yeah the SSSI will have thrown a massive spanner in the works. Will be like treading on eggshells now.
 
DistortAMG said:
Neither of those places has anywhere near the space or planning permissions to be able realise the scope of what they wanted to do with this project. Chessington specifically.

It is like asking Tesco to buy a corner shop.
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Tesco have brought many corner shops!
 
Plastic Person said:
This is literally Tesco's biggest ambition. They already bought out Booker, who supply the majority across the UK.

The only park reckon would be worth purchasing with a view to growth and expansion outside of Merlin or maybe BPB would probably have been DMP, and Loopings did just that.
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Sorry for the double post
What about LWV
 
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