MAJOR Universal Studios Great Britain news - PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS and RESORT LAYOUT!

Universal Studios Great Britain is about to enter the public consultation phase, which means we now have LOADS of new information, including new infrastructure information and RESORT LAYOUT!
Read the document here universalukproject.co.uk/wp-c...
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[@xaviertobias7942]

An important nugget you left out is that Universal says that the Secretary of State at the Department for culture, media and sports has agreed to sponsor the project within the government. Which means any planning permission will skip the local gov and instead be decided upon by top level gov. That's a very promising sign.

[@J-Vasa]

And they have all said they are eager to get this project greenlit

[@WelshGuitarDude]

Doesn't mean much if they aren't in government after election.

[@ProjectUniversalUK]

Now Nadine Dorris isnt i that job itll be a breeze to work out and ironicly that hidious woman was also the MP for bedforshsire. Glad shes gone.

[@gunnyo50]

​@@WelshGuitarDude You really think that a change of govt will nixed this whole project? Whether it's the Tories or Labour in govt this will definitely be going ahead.

[@johng5474]

Local planning permission is still required as are detailed supervision by building control and planning officers, and by the looks of it the highways agency etc.

[@ukman9797]

I hope this comes to fruition, not only will it be good for jobs, the local ecenomy but also the supply chain keeping such a park running. It will also benefit Britain as whole, showing it is investable from such a major brand. Good luck Universal.

[@sonnyjimmothy6430]

I can't get over how fast things are moving. The Paramount rumours going on for years and nothing materialising left me a bit jaded when I heard, so when i first heard about this whole project I wasn't holding my breath, but now I've completely turned around. I'm really excited!

[@user-hh6zl3io1v]

Everyone that loves the idea of this park needs to go to these meetings and make sure you are heard

[@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates]

100%

[@LehalSuni1984]

I live in Wootton really looking forward to this

[@dancerking1]

This really is so exciting! If that archeological survey does uncover anything then they better just build a rollercoaster around it and use it as themeing 😅 we dont want another bloody spider scenario!

[@LChatmanFL]

This is why I subbed & turned on notifications a while back. Great scoop! Iive Florida & I am really excited you guys appear to be getting a great park. Please don't find any endangered spiders or ancient burial remains...

[@zacksheets9726]

Also watching from Florida :D Would love to see where this goes

[@WaccyB]

Would you visit the UK one?

[@LChatmanFL]

@@WaccyB I would for sure. Especially if you guys get some originals and not complete clones. but even with some clones I would visit because many other experiences will be brand new.

[@isunlloaoll]

They can use those ancient remains for Halloween horror night!

[@gunnyo50]

Having the consultations means that that planning permission might be granted sometime this year if everything goes according the plan. It's concerning though for locals like myself regarding traffic in the area when construction is going to start but it's good that they have finally laid out firm initial plans for the site. This is a massive project that I knew they would have to undertake. That southern plot has more space to expand the theme park in the future.

[@demodex9653]

So exciting ! Thanks for being so quick with this update

[@loganblair6083]

I still think this project is further on than theyre letting on at the moment. Only time will tell, but thats a hell of a lot of work, and effort, especially being in talks with central government, for a project that isnt greenlit yet. I know im just letting excitement take over, but after reading this, im 100 percent sure this project is going ahead.

[@isunlloaoll]

I hope there is sufficient room reserved for a full second gate park and not just an indoor water park...

[@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates]

The northern parcel is almost as big as the southern so there’s plenty of room!

[@nemomaniac]

There is another massive brickworks site which was to have housing built on it that’s fallen through a while back. It’s just south of this site in Stewartby. I would not be at all surprised if they were in discussions for that land too. That really would annoy locals though.

[@BrickDust]

Knowing the area very well and seeing the scope of everything...that is bloody huge! It's very interesting to see what they have planned for the surrounding infrastructure.

[@mario_master1]

i say yes as i want a super nintendo world in the UK

[@WDWCentral]

Very exciting project! The location of the park makes sense in terms of water preservation leaving a protected area near such water body makes sense

[@redstar5858]

Really interesting info on construction height. As a local, i don't think this will be a major issue for any negativity because up to 3 years ago the area had several chimneys, all around 230 feet tall. There's an existing incinerator chimney which is 340 feet and a wind turbine which is 390 feet all within a couple of miles of the site

[@RichardMorton73]

Please let it happen, 2 hours away from my house :)

[@nathanward5246]

This is fantastic will go and have a read tonight looking forward to the progress over the coming year

[@TheMightyKinkle]

4:00 "..to make sure a roller coaster isn't built on top of an old Roman Fort or something" I don't think those words have ever been uttered by anyone throughout the human race before 😂😂

[@cortx8685]

I recognise that voice! 😂 looking forward to following along with this project with you Mike

[@VodorTV]

I was looking for this comment XD

[@gb9727]

When new projects get announced, we should probably hold our horses in case it won't happen. An example of this is Therme Manchester, which I highly doubt will ever be built

[@ridenramble5647]

Fingers crossed things continue to move forward 🤞🙂

[@jonathonpotter1059]

Also worth add there are other parcles of land aroundd the park Universal could aquire in the future. Its such a great location for the park

[@mriamhere]

I am fairly local and I can not wait 😁

[@JSMarsden]

Its hard to gague at the moment, but with the proposed car park and theme park on the southern areas, it seems like the themepark is a little small, no? I thought the southern side could be hotels, carpark and city walk and the northern side the themepark. But maybe im missing the huge scale of this

[@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates]

I agree on paper it looks small, but it isn’t - it’s approximately the size of IOA

[@JSMarsden]

​@@UniversalStudiosGBUpdatesI've just done some non scientific searching on Google maps. It looks a very similar size (if not, a smidge smaller) than the full footprint of Alton towers, including the hotels, extended carparks and gardens. So I guess if you take into account, Alton towers with the gardens being an area which can be developed, it's pretty big! Thanks for the quality videos by the way!

[@coastermadab]

It’s so exciting.

[@gerardolivier5250]

thats huge, bring it on, but bring enough rides in, not like Bejing!

[@uttermanbo]

" I'm not sold on this project , I like having my tea out in my backyard in the evening. These loud parks from the pond across concerns me. Put it in Ireland!!!" -Mr. and Mrs. Finglebarton-😂

[@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates]

Ah yes, the Finglebarton’s, I know them well

[@Jabber-ig3iw]

I think it’s great but a nightmare for anyone needing to use the 421, it’s already a very busy road, and whilst they may be bigging up the rail links pretty much everyone will go by car.

[@dieseldragon6756]

I'm not local to the area myself, but I am already smiling a *lot* at Universals' proposals to make the resort as accessible by rail as they can. It doesn't just make good sense (I mean; Unless you have physical disabilities which necessitate it, should you _really_ need a car to access a theme park?) but with *two* stations serving the resort it could even pave the way to _Universal UK_ becoming the first almost-car-free theme park in the World! 😁 Compared to the challenges of accessing Alton Towers without a car, this is a *definite* step in the right direction! 🚄🇬🇧💯💨

[@chrismax18]

See I’m absolutely bummed about the rail connection (I live in Stevenage) and literally the only way I could get to Bedford is by car or bus. Rail would take over two hours (would need to go into London just to head back out 😩.

[@Dan-cd6hm]

@@chrismax18will East-West Rail hopefully help when it's built?

[@Jabber-ig3iw]

You are off your head if you think anyone other than Londoners will be going by train. Pretty much anywhere else in the UK will be the usual PITA to get there and back by train, not to mention the second mortgage needed for the ticket. No thanks.

[@chrismax18]

@@Dan-cd6hmsadly no, it’s far quicker for me to travel by car lol 😂

[@Rick-vm8bl]

As a local, very much in favour of it and cant wait to see them break ground :) I'll see you at the planning meeting!

[@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates]

Don’t forget to let them know by filling in the form! 🙌

[@OnRideVideos]

Good work with the updates, looking forward to following this over the next few years. I hope that you continue to bring us all the news and plenty of informed speculation. Universal seems to have fully committed to this project already with hundreds of millions of £££s, so I'm sure their feasibility study will conclude "full-steam ahead". I can't believe local or national government will turn down a major investment of this kind, so there should be no significant barriers to getting the green light. The local communities might be unhappy with the possible disruption, especially during the construction phase, but I hope that they would see the enormous benefits to their area in the long term would more than outweigh the short term disadvantages. I'm about an hour away by car, so when do I get to buy annual passes? My bet for opening day is 6 April 2030...

[@J-Vasa]

Could you overlay other universal parks for scale? Coz it looks like the park isn’t that big from the images but i think its just an optical trick

[@googleboughtmee]

Check 3 minutes into the first video on this channel. It's approximately the same size as our Moon.

[@J-Vasa]

Just went back and watched it haha i know get that reference! Pretty cool how it looks tiny yet it can fit the other parks inside of it with room to spare

[@chrismax18]

I myself live locally (Stevenage) and I am literally buzzing at the thought of having a MAJOR theme park on my doorstep, thorpe park is great don’t get me wrong but this will be far better and hopefully easier to get to than Thorpe park or Alton towers. The only negative I can see is this will absolutely destroy any visitors to the nearby gullivers land. They won’t be able to compete 😂

[@BenMcleanhall]

Is there a way to access the survey?

[@asmallquest]

What sort of size are we talking for the theme park? Is there any Indication of that?

[@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates]

Maybe a similar size to IOA. I’ll cover this in a future video.

[@asmallquest]

@@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates So a pretty decent size then. Will look forward to you discussing that in the upcoming video

[@MrUltrAdaman]

It looks incredibly well written and thought through. Something that I noticed is we technically have a proposed opening timeframe (even though it's not explicitly stated): Preliminary construction they expect to start in late 2025 and they estimate that construction will take 5-6 years so we're looking at 2031-2032 as a prospective opening date. You'd have to think they at least have a good idea about what they want to put in if they are confident on build timelines as that all needs to be coordinated with suppliers.

[@86wellacre]

I think epic universe is taking about 3-4 years to construct and complete. I think a lot depends on how fast the government can fund and construct the infrastructure needed.

[@JMCVO]

One thing I am a little curious about is that a CityWalk Shopping & Dining area didn't seem to be mentioned to be in the plans, which I am surprised given every Universal Resort run by them (so all except Singapore) have some kind of adjoining Citywalk district EDIT: I realised not 5 mins after commenting this that I was wrong and forgot that the Hotel plot of land also accounted for Retail, Dining, and Entertainment, alongside being thoroughly ratio'd by everyone responding. So I stand defeated

[@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates]

There is an area listed as shopping, dining and entertainment, so we can assume that will be a city walk area

[@MrUltrAdaman]

On page 9 they talk about CityWalk.

[@iamsomeone8175]

The planned layout shows an entertainment & shopping district and they mention Citywalk on page 9

[@WaccyB]

Does this mean with trains, roads etc, so close to the park, there will be no space to expand in the future?

[@benjamindenton]

Bad news for Merlin parks. Just hope they bring a different offering to that of Orlando.

[@jaseypea]

I don't think it necessarily all bad news for Merlin - it will likely attract tourists and they may decide to visit other unique parks in the UK; previous analysis has suggested a lot of the rides will be indoors due to the UK climate (as seen in their Beijing park) so Merlin will be offering something slightly different. Merlin will definitely need to up their game (which is great for all of us), but I don't think it needs to be seen as zero sum. On the brining something different, I expect Universal to have entirely new rides and experiences, not least to not cannibalise the large number of UK and other European guests who attend their parks in Florida. Similarly you want a reason for North American guests to visit should they make a trip to Europe.

[@tasty_fish]

Yet another major project in the south east. I mean, a tremendous missed opportunity for levelling up right there.

[@TheGuvzilla]

come on people of stewartby, wooton and kempston don't mess this up for the rest of the UK with Some NIMBY BS. I live less than an hour away and need this to happen !!!!

[@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates]

If you’re less than an hour away you definitely should fill in the form and let them know your thoughts

[@TheGuvzilla]

@@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates Maybe but I am in a different county. I don’t think I count as local

[@leewhite82]

Looks very, very small... do you know the acreage of the planned TP area? They should incorporate the lake and build a TP around it.

[@gunnyo50]

Both plots of land are around 480 acres which is massive, you'll have to look at the proposal to work out the acreage of the actual theme park area. The lake is not a part of this project and it'll be left untouched but surrounding the lake Universal will do some restoration around it. Legally they cannot incorporate the lake into the theme park as I believe its managed by Anglian water and its also a reservoir.

[@LehalSuni1984]

Wootton is a really big village looks more than double the size

[@pkf4124]

I think their assessment on how visitors will visit is a bit off. You only have to visit any of the other theme parks in the UK and take a look at the carparks always full, despite many of them having good public transport links. I also think this is a lot further along than the planning meetings will let on. It looks like a second or third revision of the proposed development to me. Locally to me the 3500 houses that were built were all agreed and land purchased months before the planning meetings. Parish council objected and local council lodged a concern or two. The enormous amount of objections that were logged by locals and the services supply companies were just ignored. Same thing happened for the new retail park built on the edge of the local nature reserve. So my guess is a couple of weeks after the public planning meeting it will be, “Start Your Diggers” Not that its all bad for the Bedford area. It will certainly boost local jobs, and benefit all who live within a 30 mile or so radius.

[@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates]

As hopeful as we all are, there’s nothing set in stone just yet. Though all the signs point to a positive decision - we just have to hope they have all the information they need to give it the green light.

[@DJSOfficialUK]

Sounding all really exciting, hope it happens as would be epic, looks really small on the plans, but how big is it? What sized attractions could we see in that space? Hoping a lot of coasters, dark rides and water rides aswell theming. But nice update, have liked & shared & look forward in future to seeing & hearing more updates soon. 😀👍

[@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates]

The park will be similar in size to IOA, don’t worry it’ll be far from small

[@PixPete]

Very interesting, and Merlin will be sh**ing bricks! I was not expecting them to divide up the land in the way they have though, and the plot marked for the theme park seems quite small but we'll see. Me gets the feeling they have their eyes on more parcels of land adjacent (south west and north west) which could be used for future developments. One already looks like wasteland.

[@PixPete]

Further to this, the plot they've marked for a Theme Park takes up exactly 130 acres. For reference, Islands of Adventure occupies around 90 acres and Studios Orlando occupies around 85 and from what can be seen Epic Universe is around 125 acres. This includes the backstage areas for each park. So yeah, the British park will be roughly 45% bigger than Islands of Adventure and on par with Epic Universe. That's incredible!

[@BenMcleanhall]

Also, the concept you showed seems to be mostly hotel based rather than rides :(

[@cg_plays]

Uk giga coaster confirmed? Probably not but it would be good

[@ewanwilson3028]

This is a good start but in all honesty the one thing that going to kill this project is the locals sadly. Oh it’ll be too noisy it’ll cause congestion on the roads and so on.

[@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates]

From what I can tell, the local response has been largely positive

[@ewanwilson3028]

@@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates let’s hope so I live in Scotland. But as a hole for the UK I can only see this being a very good thing for us bring it on 👌🏻

[@gunnyo50]

​@@ewanwilson3028 I cannot see many locals around there stopping this from happening. There are virtually nothing but small villages off the A421 but this proposed theme park is in a good distance away from most of the other towns and villages in the area. The only concern for most ppl is putting up with traffic around there during construction. These new plans for roads and new train stations in the area will alleviate some of that traffic hopefully.

[@ewanwilson3028]

@@gunnyo50 hopefully it does go ahead. It’s definitely something I see as only being a thing.

[@mattbarton2029]

Doesn’t matter. Projects as big as this will be fast tracked. Local residents will think they have a say, but they don’t. I doubt it’ll even go through the local council, it’s bigger than that.

[@fastemx]

Lol as if the a421 isn’t already busy enough

[@sgtgrash]

Hopefully this won't turn into WonderWorld: The Sequel... (Corby residents of a certain vintage will understand... WonderWhen?)

[@mrglide7078]

Hope they don't end up calling it 'Universal Studios London' That would be really annoying

[@user-in8ih5sc8d]

sick

[@tuborice4571]

Maybe its the map but it does not look that big

[@Yonel6969]

Its i believe only 80 acres smaller than alton towers. Alton Towers is barely built on however because they cant build on most of it. Universal GB will be built on alot more. Its a huge space and they can use all of it. however alot of it will be back of use, hotels and split into 2 parks. By actual theme park space they still have alot to use, more than like thorpe park

[@tuborice4571]

@@Yonel6969 Thanks

[@JD-wn3cc]

As much as I am excited by this, I am really baffled about the location. Surely France would have been the obvious option, like when they built disney. It has a much more central location to the main population of Western europe. The weather is a little better. And like in florida, the combined presence of the 2 parks would actually create a wider total pull to the area, then the sum of their parts.

[@ditch3827]

What about the public rights of way that cross the land.

[@robbiejonyoung]

😂😂

[@charliewright4044]

Massive infrastructure projects like this shouldn’t even take locals in to account. Why should a few thousand voices be in control of what potentially millions could have. Peak nimbyism

[@UniversalStudiosGBUpdates]

It’s the right thing to do. Wouldn’t you want to know how it might impact you if it was being built next door to your house?

[@PatLadsChan99]

More than a few thousand mate. It's going to affect 100s of thousands in some way indirectly. I'm not opposing this project I think it will really boost the local economy. But this is a theme park not a few houses. You have to consider the light, noise and traffic pollution is a factor in this project. We had multiple public consultation events regarding the local waste incinerator which was strongly condemned by the locals. But guess what? It still went ahead. The point in consulting locals is that they are the one whos will have to live by the site day in day out. Top down planning doesn't work, as seen in many Brazilian cities. Residents know the ins and outs of area not only big company's.

[@Croz89]

This isn't the US, you can't just have a massive buffer area around the park and be done with it. People will be in close proximity like it or not.

[@robbiejonyoung]

​@@Croz89 look at the map there's no houses near it

[@Croz89]

@@robbiejonyoung That doesn't mean local residents will be unaffected.

[@Givemepeacealone]

Please NO Paddington or James Bond things they will age TERRIBLY

[@jonathonpotter1059]

A Bond Stint show would work well IMO

[@Jabber-ig3iw]

At least there won’t be any Harry fcuking Potter🙄🙄

[@thomasbroker69]

You need to improve your voice over, vocal quality is important & right it sounds thin , slightly echoing & the background music isn’t helping. Don’t add mums, get a better mic & try not to record in a room that’s got a lot of reverb & speak closer to your mic , then treat it with some compression & EQ when doing post production.