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Potential New Universal UK Park
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GooseOnTheLoose
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The national government won't announce any form of budget support until the project has been publicly green lit. The government also won't be paying for the local infrastructure improvements entirely themselves, they will want Universal to financially contribute to those regardless. We are MANY years off, if it happens at all. 2035.
Bowser
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What do people predict the pricing is going to be if this park opens?
I don't know how much the ones in the US cost but the Japanese and Singapore versions are fairly comparable to Merlin prices so i wonder if that will be what they'd aim for or if they'd start at a premium due to the IP like Disneyland Paris.
I don't know how much the ones in the US cost but the Japanese and Singapore versions are fairly comparable to Merlin prices so i wonder if that will be what they'd aim for or if they'd start at a premium due to the IP like Disneyland Paris.
DiogoJ42
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Extortionate.
GooseOnTheLoose
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They won't want to price themselves out of the local market, so will need to be very cautious about how they position themselves amongst their equivalent competitors / day out experiences. I can see them charging about 5% more than a Merlin park, initially, with the gap exponentially getting larger as the development expands, and when/if they no longer need to incentivise people through the door.
Sorry I can't give an exact pound sterling figure, but given that this is the best part of a decade away from probably happening, I can't accurately predict the inflation rate.
Edit: I can also see them incentivise visits and discounts for customers of other Comcast products too. Exclusive special prices if you're a Sky Mobile customer, for example.
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Bowser
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Seems a pessimistic outlook?
Comparable parks (eg Epic Universe, Universal Beijing or even Disneyland Paris if we are assuming this is a major theme park) have taken 4-5 years to build once announced so it's not unrealistic that this could open in 2030/31 if confirmed next year. Appreciate the UK doesn't have a good reputation for timely large scale projects but then this is a private endeavour.
GooseOnTheLoose
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They're still negotiating a financial agreement with a new incoming government, one who keeps urging financial caution. I can't imagine that some sections of the public, or commentariat, would take too kindly to financial incentives given to a large US corporation; no matter how much it will add to the economy in the future, especially after telling us we all have to make sacrifices. This is all before we get to planning permissions, environmental studies and economic impact assessments. Construction will probably be the quickest part of the entire process, as long as the shortage of construction workers eases off a little by then.
2030 and 2031 are still the best part of a decade away, 6 and 7 years respectively. "Best part of" usually means anything more than half.
It's still under construction. It has yet to be delivered.
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New news article, I think there’s a bit more information in this one. A few things we don’t know as well such as potential tax breaks.
inews.co.uk
Europe's biggest theme park planned for Bedfordshire – in first major test for Reeves
Insiders claim Government officials are in talks with Universal about a funding package
inews.co.uk
Bert2theSpark
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Link for those who want to get around the paywall: Here.New news article, I think there’s a bit more information in this one. A few things we don’t know as well such as potential tax breaks.
Europe's biggest theme park planned for Bedfordshire – in first major test for Reeves
Insiders claim Government officials are in talks with Universal about a funding package
It’s a really insightful article and proposes that public infrastructure should be government-funded with a lower VAT for sales on Universal tickets, similar to how Disneyland Paris has it. If Universal gets privileges with VAT specifically for them though, you can almost guarantee that Merlin will be upset.
The article does actually humanises the NIMBY argument quite well, it hones in on a disabled woman who lives across from the site and is rightfully concerned about the impact of increased traffic congestion with the new theme park. She has spinal injuries and is very much car-dependent and struggling at the moment. The article articulates that infrastructure construction should come before the park opens and should be more than adequate in order to do the existing locals a strong sense of moral justice.
The choice for a UK park was between Bedford and Milton Keynes, both areas in the South East of the UK, with strong American heritage. Strongly recommend reading the article for more about this.
Ultimately, it is suggesting that over £400 million should be spent on public infrastructure from the new Labour government. But it remains to be seen in how much of this spending could be potentially reallocated from the cancellation of HS2, and if that doesn’t cover the costs then Rachael Reeves has to seriously consider raising taxes to help pay for this infrastructure, and similar projects across the country.
Personally, I believe that infrastructure spending should be treated differently from day-to-day spending, but the current Treasury orthodoxy doesn’t discriminate between borrowing for spending that’ll increase revenue tomorrow against regular spending, that won’t necessarily see a return.
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It’s the new 6 platform train station with a universal name that piqued my interest, separate to the other one that. Also the fact one of the stations will be open 24/7.
Obviously that’s going to be an expense the tax payer are going to be paying for in perpetuity isn’t it? Train drivers working throughout the night etc.
Obviously that’s going to be an expense the tax payer are going to be paying for in perpetuity isn’t it? Train drivers working throughout the night etc.
GooseOnTheLoose
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I was just about to ask for this, thank you for saving me from having to request an archive myself!
It's the most fleshed out piece on the proposed development yet, containing all of the bits of discussion that have come before. The concerns about how much financial aid and tax incentives, are questions that I and others have raised here before. Particularly poignant is the suggestion that offering kick backs for this private corporate development, around the same time as cutting public services and restricting some benefits, might not go down too well with the electorate. A point which I raised this week too.
The article mentions that France, in the 1990s, shouldered $300 million in infrastructure investment to secure and connect Disneyland Paris to road and rail networks. Adjusted for inflation, and converted to sterling, that's just over half a billion pounds (£550,586,079, give or take). Estimates aren't yet available, for a similar investment from the British government to the proposed Universal project. To put it into perspective, it's not far off Bedford Council's entire expected annual expenditure for 2024/2025 alone. - https://www.bedford.gov.uk/your-cou...ets-and-spending/budget-and-capital-programme
I'm aware that half a billion is a drop in the ocean for our government, and it's incredibly likely that the government will make back it's investment within a decade. Considering how stretched local councils are though, along with whispers of scrapping council tax reduction for single occupants and those with medical exemptions, it could be a bitter hard to swallow. The government is giving the equivalent of your council's entire annual budget to an American entertainment juggernaut.
Another interesting note is the suggestion of a reduction on VAT for Universal. This is something which Merlin Entertainments have been campaigning for the industry, for quite some time. The article appears to suggest that the exemption is only being considered for Universal, and not as an industry wide one. I find this particularly hard to believe, though I can imagine that Universal have requested it, due to concerns that the CMA might find it anti-competitive and preferential.
What I think this article does demonstrate, is that any formal announcement on the commitment of this project is further away than many in our community would have you think. It's going to be a contentious and long drawn out process, but as long as it's contentious and long drawn out to get the best investment and deal for the country, then I'm ok with a delay.
Thameslink Rail
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Thameslink runs 24 hours through there anyway to serve Gatwick and Luton airports
Matt.GC
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Not at any price they wouldn't! This isn't America. As with all negotiations, this is a starting position. Incentivisation, yes, but Comcast won't get anything near what they ask for, and nor should they. This isn't Labour's money, it's ours!
If you take the VAT ask for example, that's a huge sum of money that the treasury won't be raking in to pay for all this infrastructure investment, and will be a huge part of why the treasury would want them here in the first place. Then the CMA would likely rule that is very anti-competitive (and they'd be right), so in comes Merlin, who have already been trading here and paying their taxes for decades, and have also requested such a tax break numerous times in the past. This would then be unfair on the independent parks. This in turn would be unfair on zoos. Still competing for a similar consumer leisure spend comes your struggling cinema chains, and so forth and so forth.
Not that they have to worry about any of this right now anyway, as it's years away yet, and any incentivisation will likely be funded when the economy and the public finances are in a different position to where they are now.