Universal Great Britain

[rob@rar]

A senior planner for East West Rail confirmed that they “understand what the needs would be for Universal as and when that comes forward and we are ready to take that into account” in the process for revising their plans.

East West Rail to work hand-in-hand with Universal

 

[Ludus]

Happy 2025! A whole year without any news... let's hope we get something this year

 

[TheUniC6]

Happy 2025! A whole year without any news... let's hope we get something this year

At least for a "This project has gotten approved and is moving forward." Tomfoolery hinted a while back the opening for UGB would probably fall around the 2031 timeframe. Considering how Universal announced EU in 2019 with an aim for a 2023 debut before COVID pushed it back to 2025, any formal announcement of the park (UGB) itself probably wouldn't be until 2027.

 

[rob@rar]

Happy 2025! A whole year without any news... let's hope we get something this year

Strikes me there’s been a whole lot of news emerge in 2024, from Universal itself and from other sources, all of which indicate the project continues to move forward. We saw the publication of the outline proposals (and associated public meetings and consultation) from Universal back in May. We’ve seen extensive survey work across the entire site. We’ve seen confirmation that Universal are continuing to buy land along Manor Road to tidy up the centre of the site. We’ve seen confirmation from Bedford Council, and other local authorities, that they are wildly supportive of the proposal and are working closely with Universal. Confirmation from Network Rail and East West Rail that they stand ready to accommodate changes in to their plans if/when the project goes ahead. Confirmation from government that they are negotiating with Universal and are working towards a special development order to approve the plans. Very strong hints from Universal Creative that they are getting ready to hire senior staff the design and build the new park. Confirmation from Natural England that they have no environmental objections to the proposal. And maybe other things I’ve forgotten.

In the news this week we’ve had the final winding up of The London Resort by judicial direction - that project never got beyond publishing artwork of unachievable hopes and dreams. By comparison Universal has already invested hundreds of millions of pounds in buying land, prepared outline ideas for the resort, gained unanimous local support for the project and negotiated a unique plan for planning approval via legislation in Parliament. If anyone had said on 3 January 2024 that all that news would emerge by the end of the year I’d have been amazed and delighted. I don’t think we’ll see a grand public announcement from Comcast any time soon. I think their PR strategy will mean it will be closer to the opening date. But we’ll see plenty of evidence that work on the project continues, perhaps including the first stage of groundworks at the site. This is what Comcast exactly did with Epic Universe.

 

[Lost Meerkat]

Too much of a coincidence? Bedford Council are doing works on Manor Road and Broadmead Road this month doing sample core holes along the roads. I presume this would normally be in preparation for rebuilding the road, or doing some major work on them. Interesting that they are doing it on both the roads each end of the site.

 

[rob@rar]

It’s probably nothing, but I just received an alert that the website page on gov.uk which lists Special Development Orders has received a minor update. Not entirely sure what, perhaps something related to the legislative background for SDOs, but this is the first time in six months that that page has received an update. It doesn’t make any reference to the proposed theme park application, so I’m not raising any hopes, but I thought it interesting that someone has made a change to that page.

Special Development Orders: Decisions

Planning permissions granted by means of a Special Development Order. Only applies to England.

www.gov.uk

 

[Dinosaurus]

Passed through the site this morning and It looks like another Manor Road resident may be moving out imminently. Things are definitely still moving!

 

[Lost Meerkat]

Interesting video. Just as context, there are some freight sidings on EWR line just to one side of Broadmead Road, where the Park will be built. Looks like they are currently in use to bring in waste soil from HS2 and dumping it in an old quarry.
Interesting because, if Universal want to bring in a large quantity of material when building the theme park, this is an obvious solution to avoid hundreds of lorry movements. One short link road of a few hundred yards would take them straight into the transport hub area. The most informative part is the first section. Where the train halts is just before the Broadmead level crossing.