Surprised at this use of government funding when we're supposedly so in debt.

[kwikfitt]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn8p3zjx7pzo

Investment helps jobs, generates growth.

How much will it help bring to the Uk economy though? A lot more than that I would imagine

It will pay for itself in jobs generated and tourism. If you want to grow, you have to invest. The UK and its people are so fixated on short termism that they've forgotten this.

£50bn of economic growth the article says - plus 20,000 jobs during construction and a further 8,000 when it opens. 80% of which will go to local residents.

That’s a bit simplistic isn’t it? 🤣 it ignores that a) countries will always be in debt and that b) investments generate positive returns ie more money than you put in.

people seem to know very little about what governement actually does

The only issue I have with it is the idea that 8.5 million people annually (23,000+ a day) will visit.

It rained on 40 consecutive days at the start of this year.

We need investment if we want growth…

We need investment if we want growth…

The government money will be spent on upgrading transport links to the area - so roads and trains.

this is a good thing.

It's not like they are handing over cash to Comcast. They will be improving roads and rail, which they should be doing anyway. And they'll get a lot of the money back in taxes

The company would probably have located this new resort in another country without the pledge of govt support. And the UK will have to compete with offers from other potential “host” govts. As others have said, the investment should bring good returns in terms of job creation, economic growth, visitor spend while in the country or region and so on.

Not problem with investing in leisure and tourism. Just it always has to be in the south doesn’t it . Although I suppose northern seaside resorts got the gift of HMO’s

Building infrastructure is a pretty standard govt responsibility.

Wouldnt it be nice if the government could support this but also support transport infrastructure throughout the country, bus routes, train services so that people can afford to get to work or even just actually get to work on public transport.

Surely it will mostly be under cover? Or indeed mostly indoors.

Loads of jobs both in the building it, and in the future working there. It's a good thing - we need investment for economic growth.

It sounds like the funding is going on transport and local infrastructure rather than to private enterprise, so that's going to benefit people living locally or travelling through the area, not just people visiting the park. Transport infrastructure in this country has been neglected for years, so this sounds like a good thing?

I think it's a good thing in the long run. People will want to come here and as an added bonus, they might fix the roads

It’s a theme park, so I imagine rollercoasters etc but who knows, maybe it’s possible!

Harry Potter tour does 6,000 people a day undercover, for comparison.

This is giving HS2 "value for money" investment vibes...

The alternative would probably be no government investment in that area at all. The fact they've now got a big tourist attraction coming means a lot of jobs and tourism coming to somewhere otherwise thoroughly neglected.

Too bad we can’t turn HS2 into a rollercoaster.

The £1.3 billion of govt investment has been made in order to bring in £6 billion in US private investment. That's £4.7 billion of negative spending, in effect.

Roller coasters can be built indoors. Universal is renowned for a lot of their indoor attractions some of which are coasters.

I don’t think our climate will hinder this, Comcast will have done enough research on this project to ensure that it’s a worthwhile investment for them, they’re not doing it as a favour to the UK. Whilst not every attraction in the park will be undercover, there will be enough there to not put people off when it’s raining, and outdoor rides don’t usually stop running in the rain only if there’s a thunderstorm nearby or it’s excessively windy.

I’m excited about this and think it will be a great income generator for the country, as well as creating thousands of jobs. Businesses in the surrounding area and even those further afield will benefit from the extra tourism too.

Isn't this because of the Trump visit? Like all of the AI centres we are going to have draining our limited water supplies?