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London Entertainment Resort: All Discussion

Wow… if the park gets through planning, I’ll be very intrigued to see how they pull that wooden coaster concept off!

Theming rides that heavily with a steel coaster as your ride system is no mean feat, so working with a wooden structure and pulling off something that heavily themed will be really impressive if they’re able to pull it off!
Danny said:
He knows himself it won't happen; he is very open about that in person. Gotta make his content money somehow.
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Have you spoken to Shawn about this, out of interest? Or are you hearing this second hand?
 
Rob F said:
Universal have spoken out due to infringements with wizarding world similarities

https://www.looopings.nl/weblog/185...ingen-bij-plan-voor-Engels-attractiepark.html
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So burning the last few quid they have left on getting an artist to paint some stuff to look extra cool for their imaginary park? Maybe they had a few pictures of Universal next to a case of a 1989 Sega Mega Drive RPG and decided to combine the 2 in a last ditch attempt to pretend this whole project is still a thing.

Maybe they'll go all John Delorean on us and resort to drug dealing next? Would certainly make this thread more interesting anyway.
 
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Matt N said:
Most interestingly, Merlin is now lobbying for the London Resort application to be withdrawn, as the developers have demonstrated “no tangible progress” in their eyes:
https://riderater.co.uk/9543/merlin-calls-for-withdrawal-of-london-resort-plans/

Merlin invites the developers to resubmit an “application-ready” planning application “in due course”.
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It's far more than just Merlin kicking off at present as well. For people who can't be arsed to read the 617 (yes, six hundred and seventeen!) documents relating to this whole thing, and because I'm a glutton for punishment, let me give you a rundown of where things are at the moment and point out the important bits. I intended this to be short and sweet, but seems it went on a little more than I thought, but anyway it'll give those interested a general overview:
  • We're still currently awaiting for full examination of the plans. London Resort asked for additional time to submit further documents, and at present there was an expectation to assess the application in March.
  • London Resort have asked for further time for this documentation off the back of the SSSI designation by Natural England. They then expect assessment of the application a few months later than planned in July/August 2022.
  • The Planning Inspectorate wrote to London Resort in December asking why London Resort have barely corresponded with them, why they have barely provided any information on how they intend to respond to the site being designated as a SSSI, and why they haven't had 4 weekly progress reports since September 2021 as promised. They then finish by asking why they should extend the deadline considering the lack of progress made.
A shed load of additional submissions were accepted following this letter and published on 12th January. As much as we joke about this mess of a project, some of those submissions really do highlight just how much businesses in the area have been hit by this mess. Companies who don't want to spend money expanding in the current area, can't mortgage their current buildings to finance such expansion or can't move as their existing location is unsellable. It goes right through to businesses which have already had to close because of the uncertainty and inability to secure financing. Merlin's initial response is in there too, again pointing out that any further extension is not appropriate.

London Resort responded to the letter from the Planning Inspectorate on the 14th January, babbling on about Build Back Better and economic benefit, along with Covid 19 impacting the speed of getting stuff submitted.

Further responses to their letter were published on 26th January, which had some interesting points:

National Highways has submitted a further response advising they now have doubts about the resort's transport assessment. This is because the 2500 space car park in Tilbury looks unlikely. This is because the Port of Tilbury has been designated as a freeport site, and they have expansion plans of their own. They also refer to a submission made by the port pointing out that they've barely heard from London Resort too.

Bean Residents Association has an interesting letter which also raises some concerning points:
  • KEHC Ltd along with London Resort accounts were due at the end of December 2021 but have so far not been submitted.
  • Bidmans LLP, the firm assisting with the application had to chase for fees in October 2021, to the point where a case was submitted to the High Court. I can't seem to find the case number now, so it might now be resolved, but still, the fact it had to go right up to the High Court should worry people
Screenshot-at-Jan-29-16-56-14.png

  • They've also pointed out the difficulty that companies are facing obtaining appropriate costs for having to seek professional advice. For example Ebbsfleet Development Corporation have struggled to obtain costs from London Resort.
Finally, one interesting thing I saw in one of the responses was reference to a £5 million Covid loan. Having a dig around, this was something that was confirmed at a Community Liaison meeting in November 2020 when there was a request for comment.

Screenshot-at-Jan-29-17-36-28.png

(AJ - Bean Residents Association, AM - Andy Martin from London Resort)

The loan must be matched the equivalent or greater amount in private funding. So there is now at least £5 million in public money put into this scheme, on top of all the costs incurred by public bodies throughout this whole process...
 
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Craig said:
It's far more than just Merlin kicking off at present as well. For people who can't be arsed to read the 617 (yes, six hundred and seventeen!) documents relating to this whole thing, and because I'm a glutton for punishment, let me give you a rundown of where things are at the moment and point out the important bits. I intended this to be short and sweet, but seems it went on a little more than I thought, but anyway it'll give those interested a general overview:
  • We're still currently awaiting for full examination of the plans. London Resort asked for additional time to submit further documents, and at present there was an expectation to assess the application in March.
  • London Resort have asked for further time for this documentation off the back of the SSSI designation by Natural England. They then expect assessment of the application a few months later than planned in July/August 2022.
  • The Planning Inspectorate wrote to London Resort in December asking why London Resort have barely corresponded with them, why they have barely provided any information on how they intend to respond to the site being designated as a SSSI, and why they haven't had 4 weekly progress reports since September 2021 as promised. They then finish by asking why they should extend the deadline considering the lack of progress made.
A shed load of additional submissions were accepted following this letter and published on 12th January. As much as we joke about this mess of a project, some of those submissions really do highlight just how much businesses in the area have been hit by this mess. Companies who don't want to spend money expanding in the current area, can't mortgage their current buildings to finance such expansion or can't move as their existing location is unsellable. It goes right through to businesses which have already had to close because of the uncertainty and inability to secure financing. Merlin's initial response is in there too, again pointing out that any further extension is not appropriate.

London Resort responded to the letter from the Planning Inspectorate on the 14th January, babbling on about Build Back Better and economic benefit, along with Covid 19 impacting the speed of getting stuff submitted.

Further responses to their letter were published on 26th January, which had some interesting points:

National Highways has submitted a further response advising they now have doubts about the resort's transport assessment. This is because the 2500 space car park in Tilbury looks unlikely. This is because the Port of Tilbury has been designated as a freeport site, and they have expansion plans of their own. They also refer to a submission made by the port pointing out that they've barely heard from London Resort too.

Bean Residents Association has an interesting letter which also raises some concerning points:
  • KEHC Ltd along with London Resort accounts were due at the end of December 2021 but have so far not been submitted.
  • Bidmans LLP, the firm assisting with the application had to chase for fees in October 2021, to the point where a case was submitted to the High Court. I can't seem to find the case number now, so it might now be resolved, but still...:
    Screenshot-at-Jan-29-16-56-14.png
  • They've also pointed out the difficulty that companies are facing obtaining appropriate costs for having to seek professional advice. For example Ebbsfleet Development Corporation have struggled to obtain costs from London Resort.
Finally, one interesting thing I saw in one of the responses was reference to a £5 million Covid loan. Having a dig around, this was something that was confirmed at a Community Liaison meeting in November 2020 when there was a request for comment.

Screenshot-at-Jan-29-17-36-28.png

(AJ - Bean Residents Association, AM - Andy Martin from London Resort)

The loan must be matched the equivalent or greater amount in private funding. So there is now at least £5 million in public money put into this scheme, on top of all the costs incurred by public bodies throughout this whole process...
Click to expand...

Very interesting. Thanks for taking the time to pull all that info together.
 
£5m covid loan? For what exactly? Did they have to lay off hundreds of their imaginary workforce?

This is one great big scam. Part of me thinks that the council and government should call their bluff and grant them permission. I bet they would stall.
 
Benjsh said:
£5m covid loan? For what exactly? Did they have to lay off hundreds of their imaginary workforce?
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Correct me if I’m wrong here, but I think they got that from one of the Build Back Better funds as opposed to one of the actual COVID support schemes (e.g. furlough); Craig’s post mentions the “future innovation funding scheme”, which I feel like I remember Boris announcing as part of his financial agenda to recover from COVID as opposed to as a measure to help businesses ride out the lockdowns.

Regardless, though, it appears that the Conservative government now has some degree of involvement within it, as the Resort has received £5m in government funding… the comment about “the same or greater in private funding” would suggest that they do have some form of private investor on board who has given them at least £5m, or else the government wouldn’t have granted the £5m loan.

Also, cheers for the research @Craig; it’s helped summarise everything really well!
 
Matt N said:
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but I think they got that from one of the Build Back Better funds as opposed to one of the actual COVID support schemes (e.g. furlough); Craig’s post mentions the “future innovation funding scheme”, which I feel like I remember Boris announcing as part of his financial agenda to recover from COVID as opposed to as a measure to help businesses ride out the lockdowns.

Regardless, though, it appears that the Conservative government now has some degree of involvement within it, as the Resort has received £5m in government funding… the comment about “the same or greater in private funding” would suggest that they do have some form of private investor on board who has given them at least £5m, or else the government wouldn’t have granted the £5m loan.

Also, cheers for the research @Craig; it’s helped summarise everything really well!
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Doesn't matter which scheme for me. It's totally ridiculous to give them £5m given there next to no chance it's going to happen.

Are we going to see that money again? Probably not.
 
Matt N said:
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but I think they got that from one of the Build Back Better funds as opposed to one of the actual COVID support schemes (e.g. furlough); Craig’s post mentions the “future innovation funding scheme”, which I feel like I remember Boris announcing as part of his financial agenda to recover from COVID as opposed to as a measure to help businesses ride out the lockdowns.
Click to expand...

I believe this is the fund they're referring to, and I'm afraid it was intended to support companies affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. If London Resort was a viable project, then I could understand such a loan being warranted. However, this is a company that:
  • Has been planning for the resort long before Coronavirus
  • Would have no chance of doing anything that would be affected by the pandemic any time soon (i.e construction or even operation)
  • Has a history of slipped timelines
  • Has seen no real progress on the ground
  • Has very few tangible assets away from some land purchases
Considering all of the above, it's somewhat concerning that this money was dished out to a company such as LRCH.

In the absence of any sort of recent accounts, for all we know that £5m could just be going to paying off existing debt which is due and then instantly taking out new debt. It's also impossible to tell what happened to the matched funding from a private investor. They could have other funding that was due to be paid back to that same investor, and it's just been reissued for all we know.

Their 2019 accounts (the last ones they have submitted) showed they owned just over 500k in assets, however that pretty much is just what little land they've purchased. Despite just 500k in assets, they ultimately owed some £40m to various companies and weirdly Ebbsfleet United owed London Resort £300k?

Screenshot-at-Jan-29-19-19-30.png


In those accounts, it was stated there were around 5 employees at London Resort. In their last confirmation statement on 11th January 2022, we're now up to 55 shareholders in the company with nearly 170 million shares issued between them. That's a lot of share capital likely being swapped for funding for a company that on the whole, isn't doing a great deal at the moment.

I'm still of the view that they want to do something, otherwise they wouldn't have Gerbeau on board. But my gut feeling is they're just becoming more and more crippled with debt as time goes on and they simply do not have the manpower or funds to really move this project forward at any sort of acceptable pace. There's money being spent, but there's quite literally nothing to show for it but anger from an ever increasing number of opponents.
 
Craig said:
It's far more than just Merlin kicking off at present as well. For people who can't be arsed to read the 617 (yes, six hundred and seventeen!) documents relating to this whole thing, and because I'm a glutton for punishment, let me give you a rundown of where things are at the moment and point out the important bits. I intended this to be short and sweet, but seems it went on a little more than I thought, but anyway it'll give those interested a general overview:
  • We're still currently awaiting for full examination of the plans. London Resort asked for additional time to submit further documents, and at present there was an expectation to assess the application in March.
  • London Resort have asked for further time for this documentation off the back of the SSSI designation by Natural England. They then expect assessment of the application a few months later than planned in July/August 2022.
  • The Planning Inspectorate wrote to London Resort in December asking why London Resort have barely corresponded with them, why they have barely provided any information on how they intend to respond to the site being designated as a SSSI, and why they haven't had 4 weekly progress reports since September 2021 as promised. They then finish by asking why they should extend the deadline considering the lack of progress made.
A shed load of additional submissions were accepted following this letter and published on 12th January. As much as we joke about this mess of a project, some of those submissions really do highlight just how much businesses in the area have been hit by this mess. Companies who don't want to spend money expanding in the current area, can't mortgage their current buildings to finance such expansion or can't move as their existing location is unsellable. It goes right through to businesses which have already had to close because of the uncertainty and inability to secure financing. Merlin's initial response is in there too, again pointing out that any further extension is not appropriate.

London Resort responded to the letter from the Planning Inspectorate on the 14th January, babbling on about Build Back Better and economic benefit, along with Covid 19 impacting the speed of getting stuff submitted.

Further responses to their letter were published on 26th January, which had some interesting points:

National Highways has submitted a further response advising they now have doubts about the resort's transport assessment. This is because the 2500 space car park in Tilbury looks unlikely. This is because the Port of Tilbury has been designated as a freeport site, and they have expansion plans of their own. They also refer to a submission made by the port pointing out that they've barely heard from London Resort too.

Bean Residents Association has an interesting letter which also raises some concerning points:
  • KEHC Ltd along with London Resort accounts were due at the end of December 2021 but have so far not been submitted.
  • Bidmans LLP, the firm assisting with the application had to chase for fees in October 2021, to the point where a case was submitted to the High Court. I can't seem to find the case number now, so it might now be resolved, but still, the fact it had to go right up to the High Court should worry people
Screenshot-at-Jan-29-16-56-14.png

  • They've also pointed out the difficulty that companies are facing obtaining appropriate costs for having to seek professional advice. For example Ebbsfleet Development Corporation have struggled to obtain costs from London Resort.
Finally, one interesting thing I saw in one of the responses was reference to a £5 million Covid loan. Having a dig around, this was something that was confirmed at a Community Liaison meeting in November 2020 when there was a request for comment.

Screenshot-at-Jan-29-17-36-28.png

(AJ - Bean Residents Association, AM - Andy Martin from London Resort)

The loan must be matched the equivalent or greater amount in private funding. So there is now at least £5 million in public money put into this scheme, on top of all the costs incurred by public bodies throughout this whole process...
Click to expand...
Very interesting thanks @Craig and it basically sums up exactly why this project is so unlikely to happen. Not replying to planning letters doesn't seem like a good idea when you are attempting to build one of the biggest projects of this sort this country has ever seen.
Almost so long though that post it could've done with a Matt N style TLDR but manageable lol
 
I imagine Merlin will be unimpressed with the planning farce turning people against parks as they'll have to face most of the brunt in the long run. LR won't as they're a holding company that'll go pop and the media are brilliant at linking anything in the industry back.
 
I speculated earlier in this thread that there was a possibility that there was more to this than meets the eye. Now we've got confirmation that there's a significant amount of tax payers money being wasted and the very sad effect that this is now having on local property values, I'll just come out and say that this is a scandalous situation now. They'll have to find a way out and quick.

Only £500k in land being owned? That's absolutely tiny for that part of the country so it's clear there's a lot of money owed now with naff all leverage. Their best bet would be to get something concrete through and flog off to a developer of some sort as a going concern who'll buy up land at a now highly suppressed price and build something else. This has reached quite a scandalous level now.
 
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