{"id":6254,"date":"2025-06-27T07:47:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T07:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/?p=6254"},"modified":"2025-06-27T07:47:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T07:47:05","slug":"universal-bid-to-fast-track-planning-for-theme-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/universal-bid-to-fast-track-planning-for-theme-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Universal bid to fast-track planning for theme park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Entertainment giant Universal has formally lodged its bid to fast-track plans for a major\u00a0 theme park and resort in Bedford using a Special Development Order.<\/p>\n

Universal confirmed on Thursday it had submitted a request to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to secure planning permission for the new resort without going through the normal local planning process.<\/p>\n

The scheme would be Universal\u2019s first branded theme park in Europe and will feature several themed lands, immersive rides, on-site hotels, and a full range of retail, dining, and entertainment attractions.<\/p>\n

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If the secretary of state grants planning, work could start next year creating 20,000 construction jobs with 5,000 on site at the peak.<\/p>\n

The site of the former Kempston Hardwick brickworks will be transformed during a five-year construction programme with the new theme park due to open in 2031 and 8.5m visitors expected in its first year.<\/p>\n

It would also trigger a raft of long-promised transport upgrades including an expanded Wixams railway station, new direct slip roads off the A421, and wider road improvements.<\/p>\n

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Universal said: \u201cThe past year has enabled us to closely engage with Bedford Borough Council, neighbouring authorities, national government, transport and environmental bodies and local communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 92% of residents backed the proposals during public engagement in April 2024.<\/p>\n

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from Construction Enquirer https:\/\/ift.tt\/T01Z5JF<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Entertainment giant Universal has formally lodged its bid to fast-track plans for a major\u00a0 theme park and resort in Bedford using a Special Development Order. Universal confirmed on Thursday it had submitted a request to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to secure planning permission for the new resort without going through the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-6254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-construction-enquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6254"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6255,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6254\/revisions\/6255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}