What's new

Kent, England | The London Resort | Entertainment Complex

rich210uk

Mega Poster
Re: New Paramount park for England 2018

Didnt it take something like 6 years to build the London Olympic grounds and buildings? They want to open this park in 5 years? Not so sure. As pointed out Spain is the only one thats showing slight progress and they have only laid one concrete slab so nothing major! Would be nice to have something like this in our home country and would imagine it would be quite a bit hit with tourists.
 

peep

CF Legend
Re: New Paramount park for England 2018

^Disneyland Paris was built in less time than that, as were most theme parks. Point is invalid. Soz.

I'm still hoping this has a chance of happening and the way it's been presented to the public via the media I think most people think it IS happening.

Meh, time will tell won't it.
 

Ben

CF Legend
Re: New Paramount park for England 2018

peep said:
I'm still hoping this has a chance of happening and the way it's been presented to the public via the media I think most people think it IS happening.

All the other amazing Paramount parks were promoted in the same way. Point is invalid. Soz.
 

peep

CF Legend
Re: New Paramount park for England 2018

^Lolz, that be true. There's no harm in trying to stay positive about this possibly happening though is there?
 

gavin

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Re: New Paramount park for England 2018

^ I guess not. I'm still waiting for the letter that says that Madonna gave me up for adoption when I was a baby, and now she wants to get in touch, be a family and put me in her will. Staying positive!
 

rich210uk

Mega Poster
Re: New Paramount park for England 2018

peep said:
^Disneyland Paris was built in less time than that, as were most theme parks. Point is invalid. Soz.

True, but they havnt even got planning permission which "is set to take 18 months" plus you got consultation etc so your actually looking at about 3 years or less to build. Could be done I suppose. Hope it does though. It took 4+ years to build the Harry Potter land at Universal...
 

Gazza

Giga Poster
Re: New Paramount park for England 2018

I'm pretty sure the recent Spain announcement would've garnered plenty of media attention there, too.
Suprised they want to go into Spain again anyway, Terra Mitica hasn't done well has it?
 

Nic

Strata Poster
The Reporter have upped their game. When I was a kid they could barely string a sentence together.

Still not hopeful for this happening, but will get the rents/uncle to keep an eye out for any more info.
 

gavin

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Local Rag said:
It would have a theme park based on a Hollywood movie set

Which Hollywood movie set will they be theming the entire park on?
 

Martyn B

CF Legend
Hmmm. Still not getting my hopes up about this, but:

2018 - New Park - (12/11/12) According to this news article the man who helped raise the funds needed to secure the London 2012 Olympic Games has been assigned the task of helping the Paramount Park project in Kent become a reality.

The London 2012 chief who helped raise £2 billion towards the cost of the Games has been given the job of getting a “British Disneyland” project off the ground.

Chris Townsend, the commercial director at London 2012 organiser Locog, has been appointed to the same role to create a £2 billion theme park in Kent for Paramount Pictures to open by 2018. Mr Townsend this week begins talks with City investors to raise debt and equity funding for the project on an 872-acre site on the Swanscombe peninsula near Ebbsfleet.

He has been appointed by London Resort Company Holdings, a development vehicle which has signed a deal with

Hollywood-based Paramount for an exclusive licence in the UK. He told the Standard: “Post-Olympics it’s probably going to be the country’s biggest and most exciting regeneration project. The UK doesn’t have a destination on this scale and the closest to us is Eurodisney in Paris.

“There’s real support at a local level and a lot of interest from potential investors. I’m confident that this stands a very good chance of happening but it is a tough market. The UK needs big regeneration projects to kick-start the economy and this will be a substantial tourism destination not just for the UK but for Europeans.”

The theme park will feature Paramount brands such as Star Trek and there will be water parks, cinemas and live music venues. Mr Townsend said: “It will be taking the best of Paramount and bringing it to life.”

He said most funding would be in place next year, triggering a planning application. LRCH said the park would create 27,000 jobs. Transport links are key to its success with a 17-minute rail journey from Ebbsfleet to St Pancras, new Crossrail links and proximity to the M25.

Mr Townsend said the Olympic commercial programme was the “most successful of any Games” having raised £2.4 billion through sponsorship, broadcast, ticket and merchandise revenues. He has just returned from the Olympic debrief to 2016 host Rio and said it was “in good shape”.
 

marc

CF Legend
I guess that's what people originally new it as though, I say either tbh and went to both lol.

I hate it when people say they are going to Disneyland as I assume they mean California :)

I can see this project happening and it falls in line with the m25 and a13 improvement programme.

It will be great to have something like this really close and I do think it woukd do well.
 

gavin

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Still not convinced. We've just seen too many of these at the "securing funding" phase which just simply don't materialise; I don't care who's in charge of doing the fund raising. That's before you even start to look at planning applications, which we know are a **** ing nightmare in this country.

I honestly, genuinely hope that I'm proved wrong. If nothing else, it will force Merlin to up their game a bit.
 

Nic

Strata Poster
I would hope the planning aspect shouldn't be *too* bad for this though. It's in an area that already has a lot of big developments, and has quite an industrial feel to it. The local infrastructure is developed enough to cope with the additional traffic/passengers, particularly if they can encourage more people to use the train instead of the roads. They keep shoehorning new houses in all over the place nearby, so anything that brings extra jobs to occupy all those extra people has got to be a good thing. On top of all that, the local councils have apparently already said they are backing the plans.

But yeah, as Gavin quite rightly said, I'd be surprised if the funding materialised.
 

Lofty

CF Legend
gavin said:
Still not convinced. We've just seen too many of these at the "securing funding" phase which just simply don't materialise; I don't care who's in charge of doing the fund raising. That's before you even start to look at planning applications, which we know are a **** ing nightmare in this country.

I honestly, genuinely hope that I'm proved wrong. If nothing else, it will force Merlin to up their game a bit.
I'm with you on this one.

Nic, there's also rumours of another Thames Crossing happening near that Peninsula, so that's another "in" for the area to compensate on traffic, too.
 

Nic

Strata Poster
^I heard that it was either the park or the new crossing, not both.

Edit: I've just realised that this site is currently home to a MASSIVE electricity pylon. In fact, it's apparently the tallest in the UK - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/380kV_Thames_Crossing

I'm not sure if that would help or hinder them in terms of planning. On one hand, they should be allowed to build tall, as it'll be next to an existing tall structure. On the other hand, there's a **** load of electricity cables to get in the way.
 

marc

CF Legend
The whole crossing thing keeps changing, it now looks like either a tunnel or bridge will be build at Dartford and the booths will go and be replaced with a congestion charge system.

I am waiting to the echo to put all this online.

They are also planning on opening a ferry port in Tilbury which is about 30 mins from this park.
 

Nic

Strata Poster
[insert generic "It'll blates never happen, but..." comment here]

Been doing a bit more digging and found this interesting blog post. He would appear to be a local film buff who went to the initial public meeting, and has posted some more details that were given in the presentation. Worth a read if you've got an interest in this park.

http://michaltomas.com/paramount-park-n ... n-kent-uk/

Full public consultation is apparently set to begin in January, but I can't find any details yet. I'll keep an eye out.
 
Top