Planning permission sought for proposed Universal resort.
The owners of the Universal Studios theme parks chain have requested permission to build the entertainment resort complex that was announced earlier this year.
The theme park, planned for construction at an old brickworks near Bedford, could create thousands of jobs for local people, including hundreds from Milton Keynes.
MKFM revealed in April how media giant Comcast, which owns Universal Studios, was seeking a deal to build the largest theme park in Europe on the 480-acre Bedfordshire site.
It’s reported that a 500 room hotel, new lake, entertainment complexes and rides are all part of the plans for the park, which is expected to be open by 2031. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves were among the dignitaries celebrating the plans' announcement earlier this year.
But the scheme still has to go through official channels, and the Government announced yesterday that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) had received a request from Universal Destinations & Experiences to ‘grant planning permission for an Entertainment Resort Complex and associated development at the former Brickworks and adjoining land, Kempston Hardwick, Bedford’.
‘MHCLG (the Ministry) has been asked to consider granting planning permission by making a Special Development Order for the Proposal under Section 59 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990’, says the Government’s consultations website.
The request for planning permission is accompanied by an Environmental Statement and other documents. The documents set out the promoter’s assessment of the impact of the proposed development on, for example, the environment.
Residents are invited to comment on the Environmental Statement, and the other documents, plans, and drawings that accompanied the request for planning permission.
The planning permission request is here.
