I attended the consultation this evening.
I asked about the timeshares article I shared recently. The answer was that it will not be the housing mentioned in the proposal that will be sold for timeshares but that they are working with investment companies for the hotels to sell into overseas markets.
Some things that I have made note of:
1. There will be staff housing built specifically for staff members to accommodate shift patterns and long working hours.
2. They are trying to make the majority of visitors use public transport to avoid traffic issues - I asked if they thought Coronavirus might make them rethink that as people avoid PT. They answered that they hope that by the opening date it will not longer be an issue.
3. There will be a footpath that follows the river that connects the areas around the resort to the resort so locals can walk in and from the resort you can walk out to the protected marshes surrounding the resort.
4. Visitor numbers on peak days: both parks open on peak will be 75,000 visitors over the two parks.
5. They are looking at ways to stop people parking in local areas and walking in but they are not sure how to tackle that at the moment, the conversation is still ongoing.
6. They are aiming for net zero carbon impact for the park and will be one of the most environmentally friendly parks in the world.
7. They are aiming to pay over the legal minimum wage. That is still under consideration but they hope to be competitive.
8. Contractors will be contacted and tendors released over the next 12 months.
9. The resort will not have as many hotel rooms as some similar international resorts but they believe many new hotels will grow into the area.
They are being extremely transparent and it's worth attending if you have an interest. It has given me more hope that this might get off the ground but I am still extremely skeptical that this will ever see the light of day.
Also pretty sure they just name checked themeparX, did anyone else on the call hear it? In response to "Andy's" question about the concept art being taken down. "Andy" didn't mention this site but I think the speaker then said something about it?