Universal Great Britain

[Luke Hutchinson]

Nice to see the most senior locally elected politicians across the region all getting together to put their weight behind Universal's proposal. Demonstrates that a world class theme park will benefit the entire region and beyond, not just the Bedford Council area.

I've been in touch with Bedford Council officers and they are currently waiting for the planning application information from the government in order to prepare the Council's response to the Special Development Order process.

So a planning application has gone in?

 

[rob@rar]

So a planning application has gone in?

Perhaps. This is such a big project I'd guess there's regular discussion between Universal and the government departments, so rather than a single event where Universal submit a bunch of papers as you would in a normal planning application, it's more likely to be an ongoing process which has continued in the background for a number of months. As the letter from the Council leaders stated "the business case [is] currently being finalised" by the DCMS. I've no doubt that things are continuing to move forwards.

 

[Luke Hutchinson]

Perhaps. This is such a big project I'd guess there's regular discussion between Universal and the government departments, so rather than a single event where Universal submit a bunch of papers as you would in a normal planning application, it's more likely to be an ongoing process which has continued in the background for a number of months. As the letter from the Council leaders stated "the business case [is] currently being finalised" by the DCMS. I've no doubt that things are continuing to move forwards.

I think I’m equally as interested to see the planning documents for what they might reveal but also just interested in the bureaucracy of it all

 

[rob@rar]

I think I’m equally as interested to see the planning documents for what they might reveal but also just interested in the bureaucracy of it all

Me too, although I don't think we are going to get a huge amount of detail as this is not a normal planning application. In a normal planning application that is submitted to a local council you have to fill out standard forms and submit building drawings which meet the council's usual requirements for them to assess the application. But we know that the planning process for Universal will be completely different, via a Special Development Order for which there doesn't seem to be any precedent. So I'm not expecting to see details of specific buildings or a plan of the site, not at this stage of the process at least.

 

[Luke Hutchinson]

 

[ProjectUniversalUK]

A lot has happened to take in today!

Project Universal UK

Project Universal UK. 482 likes · 264 talking about this. Follow the construction of Universal Studios Great Britain right here on Facebook.

www.facebook.com

 

[rob@rar]

That notice about forthcoming decisions has been on Bedford Council's timetable for several weeks, I first noted it on the forum back in June, with an update earlier this month. However, I think it was overtaken to a certain extent by the general election when there was probably a pause in some of the work around Universal's proposal by the two government departments who have responsibility for progressing the matter. As of a couple of days ago, Bedford Council had not yet received information from the government on which to base their response, so maybe the deadline of the end of July is no longer relevant.

 

[Altonsky]

The civil service may have already done their work. Their just waiting for the sign off from Labour.

Hopefully they’ll hurry up but we all know it’ll be a 100% yes.

 

[Luke Hutchinson]

That notice about forthcoming decisions has been on Bedford Council's timetable for several weeks, I first noted it on the forum back in June, with an update earlier this month. However, I think it was overtaken to a certain extent by the general election when there was probably a pause in some of the work around Universal's proposal by the two government departments who have responsibility for progressing the matter. As of a couple of days ago, Bedford Council had not yet received information from the government on which to base their response, so maybe the deadline of the end of July is no longer relevant.

That would align with what Bedford Council told me regarding a planning application

 

[Ludus]

Just waiting for the official announcement, hopefully any day now...

 

[ProjectUniversalUK]

That would align with what Bedford Council told me regarding a planning applicationView attachment 22575

I check the planning most days. Nothing there as off yet. I think the SDO needs to go through then we might see at least change of use applications.

 

[rob@rar]

I don't think that the Universal proposal will appear on Bedford's planning portal as they will not have responsibility for deciding on the planning application, therefore Universal won't be submitting an application to the council. As an interested party, Bedford will respond to any public / statutory consultation that the government holds when it is deciding on whether to approve the Special Development Order and table the secondary legislation in parliament to enact it. It's not yet clear what form a public or statutory consultation will take place, but this is what the then Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said before the election about Universal's planning application: