Universal studios on my doorstep

The Marston Vale line will be superceded by the East / West (Cambridge to Oxford) mainline once that is up and running. Bletchley to Oxford will be sorted this years, but there is much to do to transform the Marston Vale line. I hope all of it happens, East West and Universal will both be great for the area.

I went to the Florida one 25 years ago and it was shit. How much of the profits will stay in the UK?

So universal studios have been given the green light to go ahead and plan a park in Bedford. I actually live in Wixams, the newer village and have done for the past 5 years. Universal studios will be right on my doorstep and I'm not sure how I feel about it. One part of me is excited to have something so close that will be great for the kids and so on and the other part of me is dreading it. The traffic for starters. Also, I'm aware that house prices (including mine) are set to increase meaning we will have definitely made some money on it but we weren't planning on staying forever as we ideally need a larger house so our boys don't have to share a room. However, I understand we won't be able to afford a bigger house in wixams but will I even be able to buy a house in Bedford at all? Are the prices going to be so ridiculous that I won't be able to live here (which I have for the last 31 years!). Does anyone think I'm being silly (AIBU) or would you genuinely be worried? (YANBU)

As a PP said, theme parks have closed recently - Oakwood in West Wales last month (after 40 years) and Flambards in Cornwall last November. Both in popular tourism areas.

Of course Bedford is nearer large population centres, with the hope of year-round visitors. And Universal has some film franchises to try to attract customers - James Bond, Paddington Bear and Lord of the Rings have been mentioned. It won't get Harry Potter - Warner Bros won't want a rival attraction so close to their own.

I'd be absolutely devastated if this was being built anywhere near us tbph.

8 million plus visitors a year. 8 million more people clogging up roads, buses, trains, ubers, taxi's, hospitals. Years of construction, all the pollution, loss of community and lack of housing as hundreds of new investors start turning every FTB-level property in a 20 mile radius into an Air BnB.

I've seen so many 'we live two miles away and everyone on the street is SO excited' type comments. My mind boggles as to how anyone could feel this tbh.

Universal is a completely different cattle of fish to any of those others. It's the closest thing to Disneyland.

This will attract a lot of visitors from all over the UK and continental Europe.

No mistake this is a huge coup for the UK.

As a PP said, theme parks have closed recently - Oakwood in West Wales last month (after 40 years) and Flambards in Cornwall last November. Both in popular tourism areas.

Of course Bedford is nearer large population centres, with the hope of year-round visitors. And Universal has some film franchises to try to attract customers - James Bond, Paddington Bear and Lord of the Rings have been mentioned. It won't get Harry Potter - Warner Bros won't want a rival attraction so close to their own.

It’s not all brownfield. There is loads of wildlife there that will be affected.

there’s a huge amount of building in Bedfordshire and neighbouring Bucks, and this will just make things loads worse.

You can’t make up for all this development - plus pollution caused by increased traffic to the areas - by planting a few trees.

Both. It’s the site of a former brickworks, plus fields.

plus Universal want to create their own slip road off the M1 to the theme park, and that will also be on green belt.

Is there a doctors surgery in Wuxams yet? I know people who live there who have to travel. A fair way to already oversubscribed surgeries

I also live nearby and work in Bedford. In 2 minds - my main concern is the infrastructure as the roads around Bedford are a bit of a nightmare, the A421 included at times which I drive down every day to work. And the hospital in Bedford certainly isn’t big enough to cope with all the extra visitors! But it will be good to have some investment in the area and it’s great that it will create so many new jobs. Plus looking forward to visiting when it’s open as I’ve never been to a Universal theme park before!

I'm happy about it. I'm a bit further down the A6 and wasn't chuffed about the Luton airport expansion but then saw the news about this and it all started to hang together.
Assuming it gets off the ground, and it is looking very likely, this is my retirement job plan. I'm in an industry where I'm likely to be managed out in the next 5-8 years and I'll need another job as I'll still be 10 years or more from retirement, but probably will be keen not to work full time. I've great customer service experience and I can imagine this'll be a good place to work with flexible shifts.
Six years or there abouts before it opens also gives me enough time to arrange finance and save up for a extension to build a granny flat/ garage conversion which I plan on letting out for people holidaying/visiting the area. hmrc allows £7.5k income per year free of tax for people letting rooms in their own property and it includes short term lets like Airbnb.
There's already a park and ride that seems very under used right by the A6 A421 junction, so I expect that'll be expanded. The site is brownfield, on the old brickworks, and bringing jobs to the area. Yes there will be downsides, traffic and noise primarily, but for me the upsides far outweigh the downsides as it's hopefully providing income options for me outside of London that I feel good about.

The failed theme park in Kent wasn't Universal.

As the BBC site noted
"Paramount Pictures had granted LCRH (London Resort Company Holdings) license to create rides based on its films but the partnership ended in 2017.

Paramount Licensing Inc petitioned the High Court to liquidate the company in October 2024.

LCRH owed Paramount £13.5m, according to court documents."

Paramount wasn't putting money in, and evidently LCRH couldn't find the funding.

Universal's plans are entirely unrelated.

My first thought was wondering if the 500 acres are on a brown field site or is more of the countryside going to be swallowed up.

Any new build like this will have to provide extensive environmental considerations (yes, these can be faked but there would be quite a backlash that wouldn't be worth too much faking). Even established venues are trying to improve their environmental considerations with better recycling, renewable energy sources etc

There will be green spaces, trees etc being included which will improve the area as its brownfield. Single use plastic is very rare as it is now really, they're hardly going to be flooding the rivers with plastic straws.

There's improvements planned for the railway which will help with people using public transport

Economic growth is important and also helps green credentials - it's well known that poorer people can't afford to be "green" because they can't afford things like organic foods etc.