Universal Great Britain

[rob@rar]

Bedford Council have updated their list of forthcoming decisions which will be taken by their Executive Committee. The Council's consultation response to the government on the Universal Special Development Order is still listed in the forward plan, but the decision-due date has moved from July 2024 to September 2024.

The list of forthcoming decisions published by Bedford Council has been updated again, with the decision-due date moved from September to November. This relates to the Council's response to the statutory consultation which the government will undertake on Universal's environmental statement for their planning application.

 

[Doug88]

The list of forthcoming decisions published by Bedford Council has been updated again, with the decision-due date moved from September to November. This relates to the Council's response to the statutory consultation which the government will undertake on Universal's environmental statement for their planning application.

Seen it a million times before. The date gets pushed further back and nothing ever happens.

 

[bedfordmassive]

Seen it a million times before. The date gets pushed further back and nothing ever happens.

Yeah, it happens EVERY TIME a major international theme park is planned to open just outside Bedford.

 

[JoeMcSqueezy]

Internal delays like this probably happen EVERYTIME a new big Theme Park or Resort is being planned, we just never see it cuz we aren’t aware anything is going on, unlike with this Park where we’re tapped into the processes and things happening behind the scenes moreso than other Parks and Resorts that Universal have built

 

[Altonsky]

The budget is at the end of October, maybe there’ll be some little hints in that.

 

[rob@rar]

The budget is at the end of October, maybe there’ll be some little hints in that.

That's what the DCMS will be waiting on. Undoubtedly the previous government will not have budgeted for whatever costs will be incurred on the transport infrastructure that Universal is going to need around the park, so Ministers will not be able simply to give the go-ahead for that work to be agreed until there is an approved budget to cover the cost of the work. I have no idea how much it costs to build the infrastructure (a dual-carriageway link, a couple of train station?) but it's going to be at least £100M I'd have thought. In the overall scale of the investment Universal is proposing that's not massive, but it's not chicken feed so Lisa Nandy and her fellow Ministers in the DCMS are going to have to make a strong case to the Treasury to get that approved (competing with the multitude of strong cases all other Ministers will be making). Undoubtedly there's a huge amount of work going on right now as the new government prepares to give it's first Budget Statement on 30 October. Until the overall picture of government spending is agreed it's unlikely that any Minister will be approving work costing £100Ms unless it was already budgeted for by the previous government.

The delay to things like the consultation that I linked to above I'm sure is just a reflection of things having to wait until the government gets a clear view on overall spending.