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Potential New Universal UK Park

It's still sounding very positive though it's sounds like they deep in negotiations and the planning technicalities. I'm not surprised Bedfordshire Council are fully behind the scheme, the financial boost to the councils finances will be huge.
 
Got my first glimps of the site on Monday whilst traveling between Cambridge and Milton Keynes. Was diverted directly passed it because the main road was closed. Bedford appears to have been really badly flooded due to the ridiculous amount of rain this week, but the site itself seems to be on higher ground.
 
I have the opposite thought; could this be the catalyst for public opposition to the project and start to put roadblocks in its current seamless trajectory?

Thus far, it’s all been very hypothetical and exciting, but now we’re talking reality and talking finances and such, people might start to sour towards it once they realise what the implications of making Universal UK a reality might be.

At this point in Keir Starmer’s ministry, I fear it could be very bad optically for them to pair back the winter fuel payment and make lots of other difficult economic decisions while simultaneously opening the cheque book and giving sweeping tax breaks and incentives to a huge multinational corporation.

I certainly understand why they’d do it and I think it’s an excellent idea that needs to happen (the potential implications in terms of tax intake are absolutely huge, and could do wonders for the local and national economies), but I don’t know that your average voter on the street will see it that way. If the Labour government doesn’t handle the PR well, I fear that the Universal resort could be used as a political football and become the next Lord Alli or Taylor Swift tickets used to beat Labour with by the right. I can see the Tory attack lines about how “they’re building theme parks while letting pensioners freeze to death” or something along those lines practically writing themselves…
 
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Blackrock said:
Sounds like it’s done, ish?

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Any chance of a non-paywalled link?
Matt N said:
I have the opposite thought; could this be the catalyst for public opposition to the project and start to put roadblocks in its current seamless trajectory?

Thus far, it’s all been very hypothetical and exciting, but now we’re talking reality and talking finances and such, people might start to sour towards it once they realise what the implications of making Universal UK a reality might be.

At this point in Keir Starmer’s ministry, I fear it could be very bad optically for them to pair back the winter fuel payment and make lots of other difficult economic decisions while simultaneously opening the cheque book and giving sweeping tax breaks and incentives to a huge multinational corporation.

I certainly understand why they’d do it and I think it’s an excellent idea that needs to happen (the potential implications in terms of tax intake are absolutely huge, and could do wonders for the local and national economies), but I don’t know that your average voter on the street will see it that way. If the Labour government doesn’t handle the PR well, I fear that the Universal resort could be used as a political football and become the next Lord Alli or Taylor Swift tickets used to beat Labour with by the right. I can see the Tory attack lines about “they’re building theme parks while letting pensioners freeze to death” or something along those lines practically writing themselves…
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I'm starting to relate to Cassandra.
GooseOnTheLoose said:
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.
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Matt N said:
I have the opposite thought; could this be the catalyst for public opposition to the project and start to put roadblocks in its current seamless trajectory?

Thus far, it’s all been very hypothetical and exciting, but now we’re talking reality and talking finances and such, people might start to sour towards it once they realise what the implications of making Universal UK a reality might be.

At this point in Keir Starmer’s ministry, I fear it could be very bad optically for them to pair back the winter fuel payment and make lots of other difficult economic decisions while simultaneously opening the cheque book and giving sweeping tax breaks and incentives to a huge multinational corporation.

I certainly understand why they’d do it and I think it’s an excellent idea that needs to happen (the potential implications in terms of tax intake are absolutely huge, and could do wonders for the local and national economies), but I don’t know that your average voter on the street will see it that way. If the Labour government doesn’t handle the PR well, I fear that the Universal resort could be used as a political football and become the next Lord Alli or Taylor Swift tickets used to beat Labour with by the right. I can see the Tory attack lines about “they’re building theme parks while letting pensioners freeze to death” or something along those lines practically writing themselves…
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If the project was ultimately halted by an opposing party who would undoubtedly have supported it if in power purely as a point scoring exercise it will be truly sickening.
 
Blackrock said:
Is it paywalled? Works fine for me but I’ll try and find one.

Edit - https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/oth...=1&batchservertelemetry=1&noservertelemetry=1

Does that work?
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Thanks that does work. It's paywalled if you don't want to accept their cookies, and have the Express track you around the web.

There's nothing new in the article, aside from the comments by the Conservative MP. We already knew that Universal and the government had entered the negotiation stages for tax relief, incentives and infrastructure assistance, I don't think we'll see the other side of those until after Christmas at the earliest.

My personal position is that I don't think that the state should conceded to help Universal with the infrastructure costs, for their commercial project. We wouldn't expect the government to build a relief road for Alton Towers, we would expect them to approve it if Merlin paid up. I understand that there's always a certain amount of give and take, and as an enthusiast I'm hoping the project will come to fruition, but not with unrivalled and uncompetitive state aid.
 
I'd argue many smaller UK firms will benefit from Universal. It's not an either or scenario, hopefully the government will extend support to the hospitality & retail sectors, they both badly need it.

The benefits of Universal coming to the UK outweigh any issues with tax breaks. France bent over backward to secure Disney so it's not unique
 
Relife said:
I'd argue many smaller UK firms will benefit from Universal. It's not an either or scenario, hopefully the government will extend support to the hospitality & retail sectors, they both badly need it.

The benefits of Universal coming to the UK outweigh any issues with tax breaks. France bent over backward to secure Disney so it's not unique
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I agree. The point is if they don’t build it here they’ll build it somewhere else and that’s not exactly a vote winner is it.

It’s a boost this country really needs. I have no issues spending hundreds of millions on transport for a project like this because it just wouldn’t just benefit those attending this park.

Tax breaks happen all the time which is why our TV/Film production scene is huge, due to overtake Hollywood by 2030. I’m hopeful labour will carry on with those tax breaks, it’s arguably one of the goriest benefits.

And no doubt it’s one of the reasons Comcast/Universal picked the UK for this park, tax relationships are close and very intertwined across their business with sky/universal etc.
 
Relife said:
I'd argue many smaller UK firms will benefit from Universal. It's not an either or scenario, hopefully the government will extend support to the hospitality & retail sectors, they both badly need it.

The benefits of Universal coming to the UK outweigh any issues with tax breaks. France bent over backward to secure Disney so it's not unique
Click to expand...

It'll obviously benefit Bedford itself massively, but it also nearby towns like Luton, Milton Keynes, Corby, Kettering, Northampton and possibly even Birmingham and Leicester would have a positive impact from Universal. It's a huge draw for employment with not just the park itself, but also nearby hospitality. I know that's a a simplistic view point, but still
Blackrock said:
It’s a boost this country really needs. I have no issues spending hundreds of millions on transport for a project like this because it just wouldn’t just benefit those attending this park.
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I mentioned a few pages back about how the local residents were (rightly and justifiably) concerned about increase in traffic in the park went ahead. The proposals to upgrade the likes of the A421 for example would obviously benefit the park, but it's not just Universal themselves as you say. It'll benefit the everyday people who go to work in places like Bedford, Milton Keynes etc, especially when the park is in off peak season

Using the railways as another example. The route through Kempston Hardwick being upgraded is obviously a huge plus point for Universal, and it makes the business case of getting it to Cambridge, electrifying the line and rebuilding a lot of the stations enroute much stronger. But obviously it'd make journeys in general much easier travelling from Bedford to as far as Oxford and as a knock on effect to other places too too. More trains an hour? Good for sucking up crowds at the park, but a frequency like that is a greater incentive for residents to take the train. A new station in Wixams? Again, great for the park, but even better for the people who live there and nearby towns/villages

Blackrock said:
Tax breaks happen all the time which is why our TV/Film production scene is huge, due to overtake Hollywood by 2030. I’m hopeful labour will carry on with those tax breaks, it’s arguably one of the goriest benefits.

And no doubt it’s one of the reasons Comcast/Universal picked the UK for this park, tax relationships are close and very intertwined across their business with sky/universal etc.
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I could be wrong on this, but I recall one of the reasons the old Cedar Fair had its HQ in Charlotte was because of the tax incentives offered by the city. It's one of the reasons why Carowinds was so heavily invested in the 2010s and look how that turned out for the park!

I think Universal in Bedford can be a case of where a lot of people involved can be winners. The potential is huge
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Thanks that does work. It's paywalled if you don't want to accept their cookies, and have the Express track you around the web.

There's nothing new in the article, aside from the comments by the Conservative MP. We already knew that Universal and the government had entered the negotiation stages for tax relief, incentives and infrastructure assistance, I don't think we'll see the other side of those until after Christmas at the earliest.

My personal position is that I don't think that the state should conceded to help Universal with the infrastructure costs, for their commercial project. We wouldn't expect the government to build a relief road for Alton Towers, we would expect them to approve it if Merlin paid up. I understand that there's always a certain amount of give and take, and as an enthusiast I'm hoping the project will come to fruition, but not with unrivalled and uncompetitive state aid.
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But the French state helped with the infrastructure stops for Disney and I think most people would concede that it's been a success for everybody involved. Not helping with the infrastructure that isn't currently there would absolutely be shooting ourselves in the foot if it ends up costing the entire project.
 
Blackrock said:
I agree. The point is if they don’t build it here they’ll build it somewhere else and that’s not exactly a vote winner is it.

It’s a boost this country really needs. I have no issues spending hundreds of millions on transport for a project like this because it just wouldn’t just benefit those attending this park.

Tax breaks happen all the time which is why our TV/Film production scene is huge, due to overtake Hollywood by 2030. I’m hopeful labour will carry on with those tax breaks, it’s arguably one of the goriest benefits.

And no doubt it’s one of the reasons Comcast/Universal picked the UK for this park, tax relationships are close and very intertwined across their business with sky/universal etc.
Click to expand...
When every other company is expected to pay for their infrastructure support, or connection to assets controlled by the state, it's anti-competitive. The government certainly won't be investing infrastructure projects to improve the connectivity of Alton Towers, and actually never have.

Take Universal and a theme park out of the equation for a moment, and swap it for something boring; Google and a data centre, or Amazon and a new delivery centre. If they purchased some land, on the outskirts of a town, we'd expect them to pay for the connections to our infrastructure. We'd expect them to invest in power generation, to not put extra strain on the National Grid. We'd expect them to build, or finance, connecting roads and junctions. The same as we expect any housing developer to do these things.

It's not as though Comcast aren't a multinational behemoth, with vested interests already in this country. They've bought some land and want to build a theme park there? Cool. Why should the taxpayer assist or help them do that, what is in the public interest? I understand that it's commercially preferable for Comcast and their shareholders, but what do we actually get out of it Vs investing in projects of actual national significance, like the cancelled phases of HS2?
 
A theme park isn't really like Google setting up a data centre though so that comparison makes no sense. It's a massive tourism undertaking that would involve tens of thousands of people travelling to and from every day with large scale knock on economic benefits (particularly hospitality) that would vastly exceed the Google example. In that sense it's more akin to say an airport, of which governments are involved in infrastructure and tax breaks.
 
Bowser said:
A theme park isn't really like Google setting up a data centre though so that comparison makes no sense. It's a massive tourism undertaking that would involve tens of thousands of people travelling to and from every day with large scale knock on economic benefits (particularly hospitality) that would vastly exceed the Google example. In that sense it's more akin to say an airport, of which governments are involved in infrastructure and tax breaks.
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An airport has national significance, being an infrastructure project with connectivity. Most of our airports are actually previously state owned, and sold off, or old RAF bases.

A data centre, a la Google, is also of significance. There aren't people physically visiting it, but there are far more employees needed than you realise for the upkeep. The data centre would also improve the UK's digital connectivity and infrastructure, making it more attractive to other companies and supporting the growth of the digital economy. Although the overall amount of jobs created for the data centre would be fewer than a theme park, they would be significantly higher paid. A data centre also has less environmental impact and is less susceptible to market fluctuations.

You wouldn't expect your local council to stump up a chunk of cash to fund a new out of park leisure complex, or to connect it. If the company wants to build there, and they've bought the land, they're already invested, they ought to pay for it. The same as any other company.

I appreciate incentives, or tax breaks, but it ought to be competitive and fair.
 
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