The London Resort (Paramount Park London)
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I love how every time this park gets talked about there is always reference to Disney Parks - this is highly irresponsible. It fails to acknowledge the losses Disneyland Paris Resort has made in its years of operation and how much it is subsidised by the international parks and Disney's other income streams. If the London Resort makes losses like Disney and its partners have done on Disneyland Paris it will be completely financially unsustainable.

Yes, Disneyland Paris generates a lot of money for the local economy, that's a great ambition for the London Resort to have but if it isn't making money to fund itself it will very quickly go bankrupt and there is no big brand backing like Disney has to foot the bill when it does.

I am glad they finally have planning in, I really hope this comes off but, for the love of God, please stop comparing to a park that has absolutely zero in common with the project.

BREAKING:

The London Resort, one of the most ambitious projects in Europe, is, today, submitting its application to Government. Comprising over 25,000 pages of reports, assessments and analysis, the Development Consent Order (DCO) details how this largely brownfield former industrial site, will be transformed into one of the most exciting destinations in the world.

Projected to be one of the largest, single site employers in the UK, the London Resort is expected to makea significant contribution to the UK economy. Independent research, contained within the application, forecasts a number of benefits:

£50bn of gross economic activity (GVA) generated in the UK over the initial 25-year period;
Over 6,000 construction jobs created;
48,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs created by 2038 including:
8,700 employees by 2024 rising to over 17,000 by 2038, directly employed by the Resort
Up to £200m in additional tax revenues, directly created by 2038
Crucially, the London Resort is also aiming to be one of the most sustainable, global destinations in the world. It plans to be the first operationally carbon neutral theme park, will deliver a net biodiversity gain and will create a green network of amenity areas and parkland to include areas of environmental enhancement and wildlife habitat creation beside the River Thames for local residents and Resort guests.

Chief Executive PY Gerbeau said:

“I arrived at this project eighteen months ago and it has been non-stop ever since. We have revived, reviewed, and reprogrammed the entire venture. This will be so much more than just a theme park.”

The application confirms the intent to develop two theme park gates, a waterpark, conference & convention centre and e-Sports facility. Over 3,500 hotel rooms will be created and two ferry terminals – one each side of the River Thames – will be built, along with back-of-house facilities, a visitor centre and a new road from the A2. Crucially, the vast majority of the materials required to construct the Resort will be delivered by River.

Mr Gerbeau continued:

“We have built excellent relationships with many stakeholders and are working closely with the elected local Council leaders. This has been an incredibly challenging journey and we look forward to working with the UK Government over the next twelve months.”

The London Resort will be the first European development of its kind to be built from scratch since the opening of Disneyland Paris in 1992. If successful in securing development consent, construction could begin in 2022 with a view to opening in 2024.

The success of Disneyland Paris is testament to the impact that a global theme park can have on the economy. A report on the economic contribution of Disneyland Paris found that the attraction added €68bn to the French economy in the 25 years since opening. The region in which the park is located, Seine-et-Marne, has benefitted €22.4bn. The attraction also made €13.7bn in purchases, of which 70% were made locally and 82% were made within France, adding knock-on benefits to local suppliers.

The Government, through its Planning Inspectorate agency, has a period of 28 days in which they write to the local authorities and, together, assess ‘adequacy’ on the consultation and carry out an evaluation of the application before they accept or reject the submission.

Source: https://londonresort.info/news/the-london-resort-to-generate-50bn-over-25-years/

Originally Posted by CarlySX

This article backs what I have been saying all along and matches up with the response I got during the consultations about investment. They are looking for Middle Eastern and Indian backing to buy up timeshare hotel rooms and investment properties. This is what drove the theme park bubble in Dubai for a long time and how many of those got built? Many have the apartments and hotels but no park after years, many have never even delivered the items that were sold....

I would also agree as there has been little to no progress on the actual park itself, only detailed descriptions of the hotels and facilities, to be honest the only person with experience in the theme park genre is PY Gerbeau however he is still a business man rather than an attractions person.

This project has been trudging along slowly and I thought it was finally picking up ground but in my opinion it’s just a money making exercise for people to invest in not knowing what they are really buying

Originally Posted by Guest

Article I found on investments into the resort

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1776686/business-economy

This article backs what I have been saying all along and matches up with the response I got during the consultations about investment. They are looking for Middle Eastern and Indian backing to buy up timeshare hotel rooms and investment properties. This is what drove the theme park bubble in Dubai for a long time and how many of those got built? Many have the apartments and hotels but no park after years, many have never even delivered the items that were sold.

“Generally speaking, those whom we’ve spoken to have been of Middle Eastern origin,” said James Hayward, investment director at London-based investment brokerage Farrbury Capital Partners.

“We market globally... We still have healthy investment in the UK, although I would also say those who invest from the UK have been predominantly of Middle Eastern descent. It is very, very popular in this neck of the woods. So that’s predominantly where we are seeing investment coming from,” he added.

This project is not about the theme park at all, it never has been - it's a regeneration project and an investment project ran by investment people. Look at the make up of the project team right now - how many of those people have theme park experience? How many have investment or property experience? You can put out all the concept art you like (or not in this case) but unless you have people who have delivered parks before it will fail to be realised.

I would love to see this park built but it's so pie in the sky I just don't see it happening.

Article I found on investments into the resort

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1776686/business-economy

Originally Posted by BenJacobs

I would surely expect a post-Brexit UK to be encouraging major tourism projects like this.

When NSIP has been approved and a permit has been given, LRCH is capable for applying for grants to help with construction of the resort. They have not made it clear yet whether they remain operating as a private supported project or that they will request financial support from the UK government.

BALPPA however has made it very clear that there are worries, as far back as 12th of October 2015, concerning this project for tourism in the UK. As Paul Kelly stated in his letter to the NSIP " cannibalise the existing tourism industry in London, or become a 'white elephant' that does not deliver the proposed benefits". Which is showing that although the group endorse new competitors, it should not be based on false promises. Don't forgot that the LRCH has proposed a 15 million visitors in their theme park annually, which is the same amount of visitors combined in the theme park industry today in the UK.

Originally Posted by Hjalmar

According to the latest meeting of NSIP, they are still "on their way" for submitting their plans to the board. However with 2 weeks left in December to make it within their own timescale. Concerning leaving the EU, the UK has better things to do than building a theme park, like sorting out the aftermath of the departure.

I would surely expect a post-Brexit UK to be encouraging major tourism projects like this.

Originally Posted by Guest

I'm looking forward to seeing more progress be made with this project, I personally think it will go ahead but maybe with an opening date for 2025.

After leaving the EU I think the UK government will grab this opportunity with both hands

According to the latest meeting of NSIP, they are still "on their way" for submitting their plans to the board. However with 2 weeks left in December to make it within their own timescale. Concerning leaving the EU, the UK has better things to do than building a theme park, like sorting out the aftermath of the departure.

I'm looking forward to seeing more progress be made with this project, I personally think it will go ahead but maybe with an opening date for 2025.

After leaving the EU I think the UK government will grab this opportunity with both hands

Originally Posted by Guest

I think that you are being quite negative. There has been significant progress recently and the DCO is planned to be put forward early 2021, I am sure everyone would love to see this project go ahead!

Personally I see myself as realistic, this park was suppose to open in 2020 with permit filing in 2016. This hasn't happened until now, and according to your post they have again delayed the timeline and moved it to 2021.

What makes me more worried is that up to now, no details have been shown on what is going to attract people to the park. If you compare this with relevant projects like Universal's Epic Universe, the filing of official documents show detailed masterplans of what each section of the park is going to be. Up to this point London Resort has shown intentions of what's to come except for concepts with generic themes. This is weird as they claim to have ITV, Paramount and BBC behind them for IP's, so where are the IP inspired concepts?

They are asking people to sign off on the DCO with no knowledge on what the both parks offering into the mix of all hotels, E-Arena and other side offerings within a resort. Basically they are now selling Disney Village with the hotels without telling what the parks are.

I would love to have a resort 30 minutes from my home, but let's be realistic, this has been going on since 2015 without any construction as of yet.