Universal Great Britain

[Wicket The Cat]

Nice week to be at a theme park

View attachment 26954

But I thought it rains all the time here!

 

[rob@rar]

Quick update from local MP Mohammad Yasin on his latest meeting with UDX President Page Thompson and the Head and Deputy Head of Universal's government relations team, where they briefed him on progress which he "hopes to share soon". He said the current priority is to prepare the Special Development Order planning application.

Away from the sunny terrace at the Palace of Westminster, the National Planning Inspectorate have accepted Bedford Council's argument that their major development plan for housing and economic development (which has already been several years in the making), basically needs to be scrapped and work started again to take in to account Universal's development. Seems sensible as suddenly introducing a world-class theme park in the middle of your borough is bound to have pretty dramatic effects on all sorts of economic, social, housing and regeneration plans that you might have hoped to develop.

 

[xtpower]

Quick update from local MP Mohammad Yasin on his meeting with UDX President Page Thompson and the Head and Deputy Head of Universal's government relations team, where they briefed him on progress which he "hopes to share soon". He said the current priority is to prepare the Special Development Order planning application.

Away from the sunny terrace at the Palace of Westminster, the National Planning Inspectorate have accepted Bedford Council's argument that their major development plan for housing and economic development (which has already been several years in the making), basically needs to be scrapped and work started again to take in to account Universal's development. Seems sensible as suddenly introducing a world-class theme park in the middle of your borough is bound to have pretty dramatic effects on all sorts of economic, social, housing and regeneration plans that you might have hoped to develop.

Oh yea, you can't go ahead with a bog-standard plan when you suddenly have probably Britain's most popular tourist attraction built in the middle of your area. Any ideas of what sort of changes they might enact Rob?

 

[masekwm]

Oh yea, you can't go ahead with a bog-standard plan when you suddenly have probably Britain's most popular tourist attraction built in the middle of your area. Any ideas of what sort of changes they might enact Rob?

Submitted Sites

There are several areas around the site that were proposed for housing, I'd expect these could be changed to

• Employment (industrial, office, retail, leisure)

Offering office space or hotels nearby

 

[rob@rar]

Oh yea, you can't go ahead with a bog-standard plan when you suddenly have probably Britain's most popular tourist attraction built in the middle of your area. Any ideas of what sort of changes they might enact Rob?

Really not sure, but we can look at the commentary by the National Planning Inspectorate on Bedford’s original plan as it was being developed and refined. Two of the concerns from the Planning Inspectorate were that the land assigned for house building seemed insufficient, and the changes proposed for road infrastructure were not ambitious enough (especially whether the A421 needed to be widened). These comments were based on Bedford’s plan before it was known that Universal were considering their major development in the borough. With Universal now confirmed to be happening I can’t see that pressure on house building targets and road infrastructure is going to lessen, it is almost certainly going to increase. So when Bedford restart their long term development plan I think they will need to account for concerns previously expressed by the Planning Inspectorate with more ambitious targets, which obviously puts land which could be developed for housing at an even higher premium.

 

[rob@rar]

On a different topic, Embracer Group, owner of amongst many other things the IP rights to Lord of the Rings, today published their 2024-25 annual report. In one segment of their business they reported reduced profit due to the lower than expected performance of the Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim movie. Despite this the company states that:

The Lord of the Rings IP and universe has the potential to become a key driver in the coming decades, with the aim to delight fans across the globe. New stories in streaming and film, and working with partners for our key IPs, support taking the IPs to new heights.

Clearly the company are ambitious to maximise the return of their investment when they bought the IP rights to Lord of the Rings in 2022. Of course, this doesn't mean that we can be confident that Universal will use the LotR IP in any of their parks any time soon. But I think that if Universal did want to explore all things Tolkien in the country in which he was born they would find a willing partner in the Embracer Group, and almost certainly lower licensing fees that the huge sums of money they pay to Warner Bros/JK Rowling for their Wizarding World lands.

 

[Wicket The Cat]

On a different topic, Embracer Group, owner of amongst many other things the IP rights to Lord of the Rings, today published their 2024-25 annual report. In one segment of their business they reported reduced profit due to the lower than expected performance of the Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim movie. Despite this the company states that:

Clearly the company are ambitious to maximise the return of their investment when they bought the IP rights to Lord of the Rings in 2022. Of course, this doesn't mean that we can be confident that Universal will use the LotR IP in any of their parks any time soon. But I think that if Universal did want to explore all things Tolkien in the country in which he was born they would find a willing partner in the Embracer Group, and almost certainly lower licensing fees that the huge sums of money they pay to Warner Bros/JK Rowling for their Wizarding World lands.

You could say they'd Embracer Universal. (sorry)

 

[yepthatguy]

30° on the site today.

 

[tommyhawkins]

30° on the site today.

That's in Freedom units right, cos the porta Ventura board told me it's always cold and raining in England

 

[yepthatguy]

I think there was a council meeting last night updating the local parish councillors on progress.

 

[ProjectUniversal]

I think there was a council meeting last night updating the local parish councillors on progress.

Which council? Normally they put it in the agenda just in case but say no update. I know Stewartby do this so many times I gave up bothering.

 

[masekwm]

https://councillorsupport.bedford.gov.uk/documents/g6756/Public%20reports%20pack%2002nd-Jul-2025%2018.30%20Full%20Council.pdf?T=10

There is a full council meeting next week and one thing to consider is:

 

[EllieB]

That's amazing, I will happily join them in celebrating Universal Day!

 

[yepthatguy]

Which council? Normally they put it in the agenda just in case but say no update. I know Stewartby do this so many times I gave up bothering.

Honestly, I don’t know. There are local rumours circling that Universal expect full planning consent by August, and that work will actually ramp up on site before the end of the year.

Hard to know what’s certain and not with rumours I guess. Another is that Manor Road is going to be full on dual carriageway. That’s not been mentioned before I don’t think, however the Universal website pdf shows Manor road straightened and a major road, so it could be argued that was expected.

Keep up the videos btw. Great work!

 

[xtpower]

The Government are contributing about £500m towards infrastructurefor the Park, £300m of that will go towards Wixams station.

Universal theme park deal secured with UK pledge to spend £500m on transport

Attraction at site of former brickworks in Bedford could boost UK economy by £50bn and create 28,000 jobs

www.theguardian.com

 

[pbin]

Network Rail readies £300M procurement for expanded Wixams station for Universal Studios | New Civil Engineer

Paid article, but it states that Network Rail will launch a procurement of £300m for a revised Wixams station plan. It does state that a four-platform station is “under review”…

Projected opening date of 2030.

 

[yepthatguy]

The Government are contributing about £500m towards infrastructurefor the Park, £300m of that will go towards Wixams station.

Universal theme park deal secured with UK pledge to spend £500m on transport

Attraction at site of former brickworks in Bedford could boost UK economy by £50bn and create 28,000 jobs

www.theguardian.com

Crikey!

Wow.

 

[Jake S]

in my humble opinion, that is not a good use of government funds

 

[EllieB]

in my humble opinion, that is not a good use of government funds

I don't know, £500 million investment in infrastructure in exchange for a £50 billion boost to the economy isn't a terrible deal.

Many governments have certainly done a lot less good with £500 million.

 

[Jake S]

I don't know, £500 million investment in infrastructure in exchange for a £50 billion boost to the economy isn't a terrible deal.

right, you’d have to actually believe that though and i do not!