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Potential New Universal UK Park

Even Labours plans to reduce NYMBYism will not make this rapid. All that’s doing is reducing the number of possible appeals to a planning application from 3 to 1. So there will still almost certainly be the approval stage and one appeal stage before this gets approval.
 
Dave said:
Even Labours plans to reduce NYMBYism will not make this rapid. All that’s doing is reducing the number of possible appeals to a planning application from 3 to 1. So there will still almost certainly be the approval stage and one appeal stage before this gets approval.
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Yes and that's why I was saying I hope it's selected as a NSIP, so it's subject to that limitation and can hopefully be approved in a year or two, rather than sitting in planning purgatory for a decade.

I don't think anybody is asking for planning laws to be bypassed entirely when they hope that the project is 'fast tracked'.
 
benpicko said:
I don't think anybody is asking for planning laws to be bypassed entirely when they hope that the project is 'fast tracked'.
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Perhaps not, but there’s certainly been a fair bit of an assumption here and elsewhere that public support of the outline of the project = a simple planning process, when it’s a lot more complicated than that. You’ve rightly pointed out your assumption that “fast tracking” this project is probably a year or two of a planning process, and that’s the sort of timescale I’d generally agree with as being ideal too.

My comments were more aimed at the assumption that this is a slam dunk within a few months. Look beyond the new coasters, and for all intents and purposes, Universal are proposing to build a whole town/city from scratch, with all the associated infrastructure and issues that it brings too. Once we get into the nitty gritty, there’ll be a lot of stakeholders who will want to have more of a say on that. Some of it will be negative and potentially complex - but the majority of it will be valid and not simply NIMBYism. Regardless of their initial public views on the project, that additional detail that comes with a proper planning application gives them the facts, figures and evidence needed to properly assess and decide whether the application is suitable.

That’ll take time both for plans to be studied, the comments to come in and for them to be assessed and addressed if required.

Tl’dr - I’m just posting my semi-regular reminder that people need to be realistic and remember planning right takes time :p
 
There is currently a power station being built nearby which is subject to a NSIP order, here is the timeline:

14 April 2020​

A Decision Letter from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) regarding a Non-Material Change application has been published.

13 March 2019​

Decision made by the Secretary of State

13 December 2018​

Recommendations given by the Planning Inspectorate

13 March 2018​

Examination begins

23 January 2018​

Relevant representations published on the website

19 January 2018​

Registration of interested parties closes

28 November 2017​

Registration of interested parties begins

20 November 2017​

The application has been accepted for examination

23 October 2017​

Application received by the Planning Inspectorate
 
There are two subtler different points here. @Craig is correct to say that however much enthusiasm there is, the planning process will be protracted. That will potentially be curtailed if the plan for reduction in appeals is implemented in time.

Separate to that though is whether the project will be approved. I am far more confident that it will be. Whilst the planning system is mired in bureaucracy, approval effectively boils down to councillor votes. Since there is both significant local and national support for the project, it would be very surprising for the majority to vote against. An appeal can only be made on the process then, so assuming the decision is lawful and accords with planning policy, an appeal would likely fail.

So, yes, a lot of hoops to jump through, but assuming Universal remain interested, I think the odds of the project happening are reasonably high.
 
Yup, regardless of my comments to stay grounded in reality on the timescale front, I’m also in the same boat that I’m confident it’ll get through, regardless of any humps in the road along the way. While I’ve made comparisons to London Resort in terms of the planning process, there’s a lot (some would say all of it 😅) that they got very, very wrong. The key part in my quote about the NSIP process, if it ended up going down that route:
“It should also be possible to enable some well-prepared applications to proceed through the process from inception to the preliminary meeting at a faster pace. In turn, this should enable the examination to be shorter than the statutory maximum of 6 months, and consequently the reporting and decision-making stages could also be expected to be shorter than the statutory 3 months respectively. In total, these time savings could mean a ‘fast-track’ application proceeding though the stages from acceptance to decision in as little as 12 months.”
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In the other hand, Universal are highly experienced theme park operators, and on the face of it they appear to be doing everything the right way so far. London Resort’s application was based on assumptions for some very major national infrastructure projects (Lower Thames Crossing) to be completed on time, despite it already being bogged down in decades of dithering and delays - there’s still no decision due on it until May this year! That’s not to mention existing traffic flows being nothing short of a nightmare in that area in the first place.

For this project, there’s a far better road network ready to go, and although I still believe there’s some very substantial improvements that’ll need to be made, they’re far more realistic than digging two tunnels under the Thames!
 
Yep agreed despite Labour’s positivity on it, planning could still take years - although you suspect that a company of Universal’s size and reputation will have already had fairly extensive (and expensive!) pre-plannings advice to mitigate a number of the likely concerns.
 
Mick said:
Yep agreed despite Labour’s positivity on it, planning could still take years - although you suspect that a company of Universal’s size and reputation will have already had fairly extensive (and expensive!) pre-plannings advice to mitigate a number of the likely concerns.
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They’ll also have some very, very expensive lawyers.
 
Martin said:
Maybe I'm confusing it with hope but I feel really confident about this happening even if it's still a long way off from opening. I don't claim to be an expert in planning and planning law but this feels different ya know?
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I feel the same as well. I feel like i'm living in a alternative universe every-time i think about the UK is getting a universal studios... Dare I say we are currently living in an 'Epic" Universe.... 😂
 
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AltonLover123 said:
I still don’t think we should be expecting anything more than maybe one centre peice coaster. The rest will be studio type dark rides, walkthroughs and shows rather than another Islands of Adventure/Epic
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Wouldn’t that be a first for a Universal park? I can see a scenario where they would perhaps only open with one initially but even then I’d be surprised if they didn’t have at least an indoor coaster too considering it will likely be the UKs first 365 park.
 
Bowser said:
Wouldn’t that be a first for a Universal park? I can see a scenario where they would perhaps only open with one initially but even then I’d be surprised if they didn’t have at least an indoor coaster too considering it will likely be the UKs first 365 park.
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There's been a couple of Universal parks that opened without a rollercoaster as far as I know, but I don't see the appeal of building a park as big as this one may be and not having at least a couple of large coasters. I hope they follow the Epic Universe model for this, but perhaps they'll be more conservative as it's a new region for them
 
Mick said:
Yep agreed despite Labour’s positivity on it, planning could still take years - although you suspect that a company of Universal’s size and reputation will have already had fairly extensive (and expensive!) pre-plannings advice to mitigate a number of the likely concerns.
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Your know for a fact when those planning documents get submitted, the internet will go mad.

I'd suggest that after official approval it won't be long before we see a planning application, they have had plenty of time to prepare, and it will provide months of material for us to discuss on here
 
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