The London Resort (Paramount Park London)
Views: 1,133,730 Subscribe

The bad news is Aardman Animations is no longer involved in the delayed London Resort project, becoming the second to be pulled out after Paramount Pictures (in 2017). This means that Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep are no longer going to be part of the children's areas in UK's upcoming London Resort theme park.

The creators of Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep have pulled out of a deal to be part of a £3.2bn theme park touted as a British rival to Disneyland.

In 2015, Aardman Animations struck a deal with the company behind the development in Kent, known as the London Resort to potentially turn its characters into themed rides and attractions.

The theme park project, which has been beset by delays and was originally expected to open this year, started with a tie-up with Paramount Pictures, the Hollywood studio behind blockbusters such as Mission: Impossible, Star Trek, Transformers and The Godfather. However, Paramount, which lent its name to the resort, pulled out in 2017.

London Resort’s memorandum of understanding with Aardman Animations said the deal would “bring a number of the nation’s favourite characters to the resort and introduce them to a whole new international audience”.

However, a spokeswoman for Aardman told the Guardian the company is “no longer involved with this project”. A spokesman for London Resort Company Holdings said: “The partnerships are under continuous review and when the agreement with Aardman expired both parties decided not to renew the partnership.”

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/01/wallace-and-gromit-creators-aardman-pull-out-of-british-rival-to-disneyland

ITV has signed on to the project.

https://www.mylondon.news/whats-on/family-kids-news/uks-answer-disneyland-just-outside-16199379

The news about Fenlon Dunphy quitting is from August 2016, I don't think anything of note has happened for quite a while.
Thanks to Paramount pulling out this is now a theme park with no theme. They did have some sort of "Hurrah for British Things / Fairytale land" concept knocking round but even that seems to have died a death.
Going to their own website http://londonresort.info results in a slideshow of tourist/travel stock photos seemingly put together in 1998 and vague talk of regeneration, jobs, jobs again and err.... potential! How about a theme though? The last downloadable documents are from 2015 and still feature Paramount.
Really, why not stick a monorail in there and have done with it?

Despite recent assurances that the project is going ahead, and a renewed set of publicity rearing it's head in the UK with the same old headlines and artwork they have been using for years, it looks like prestigious leaders are now leaving the project.

One of London Paramount’s prominent figureheads has walked away from the project, just two months after the developer made a public assurance that the theme park was on track.

Fenlon Dunphy has played a major role in progressing the plans for the £2bn (US$3bn, €2.8bn) Kent-based theme park and resort, attending many of the public consultations and exhibitions held by developer London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH).

Progress on the project seemingly slowed when a planning application that was expected last year was delayed, but LRCH insists the scheme is going ahead.

Dunphy has given no reason for his departure, but local news provider Kent Online reports CEO David Testa is continuing as CEO and the rest of the team will stay the same.

Dunphy remains UK boss at LRCH’s parent company and Paramount’s largest investor, Kuwaiti European Holdings (KEHC), which he joined in 2013. KEHC is owned by Abdullah Al-Humaidi, who oversees the theme park and resort development alongside Testa and former politician Steven Norris.

Source: http://www.cladglobal.com/CLADnews/architecture-design/london-paramount-kent-ebbsfleet-dunphy-theme-park-kuwait/326182

I’m still very confident this park will never see the light of day. I maintain that it is simply another development scam. Sorry folks.

Swanscombe weather pattern much the same as Paris if not better as Gravesend is always the hottest place in the UK

I can't find the source of the information on this appointment but seems they are bringing more people on board the project.

.@LondonResort Company Holdings have this week appointed a new director, Alan Crane, in the role of ‘Construction Consultant’. Perhaps of most interest amongst his experience in the construction industry is his involvement in Euro Disney, the original name of @DisneylandParis.

Source: https://twitter.com/TowersTimes/status/1085648423083171840

London Resort is pushed back again to 2024. That is a lot of opening delays.

Source: https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent-business/county-news/backer-takes-reins-as-resort-plans-pushed-back-another-year-193015/

A new investor has stepped in!

Yes, Swanscombe, Kent does not have an appropriate weather for a theme park.
A £3.5B investment is difficult to recover. It would make a good Film studio location though, since UK already has an established market for
Cinema / television content production. We tried asking the council if we could put up a proposal, but no one replied.
The glitter and hallucination of a Theme park is probably preventing them from considering smaller plans.