I reckon a 2025 construction start is slightly optimistic myself. Bear in mind that even after Universal gives the project the green light, they still need to submit a full planning application to the government and have their proposal go through appropriate scrutiny.
I know that that project had a litany of other issues, but bear in mind that the team behind the ill-fated London Resort project were forecasting that it would take 18 months from the submission of their full planning application to get approval of the planning application by the government, and that even had the gold-plated NSIP status to fastrack it through the planning process. I’m unsure if Universal have been granted NSIP status, even if the proposal is being viewed by the UK government rather than Bedford Borough Council.
If Universal’s proposal was to take a similar 18 months to gain planning approval, we’d be looking at early to mid 2026 for a planning approval if they submitted a full planning application towards the end of 2024.
Given that Universal wouldn’t be starting construction straight away (they’d need to hire construction workers, order supplies, and do all that good logistical stuff after the planning approval), I reckon we’d be looking at more like late 2026 or possibly even 2027 for a construction start and an opening somewhere in the ballpark of the early 2030s.
And that’s if everything goes wonderfully to plan; as we’ve seen with the London Resort’s planning application and numerous other large infrastructure projects in the UK (such as HS2), it only takes a few heavily dissatisfied people to throw a massive spanner in the works. We could see currently hidden opponents emerging from the woodwork when it comes to the scrutiny and seriousness of an official planning application.
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