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

[kwikfitt]

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

Rollercoasters can be indoors

everything theme park related can be indoors.

I can't imagine anyone building this in the UK and not having it indoors!

Alton Towers isn't. Nor are most of the UK's theme parks.

It’s all going to infrastructure and basically is just putting in some much needed upgrades to Bedfordshire

It will make a fortune for the economy

I'm more surprised Rachel Reeves wore a pair of pink flared trousers and office shoes to a building site!

Would you like to live next door to it, I certainly wouldn't.

This has been many many years in the planning if you see when they originally bought the land, nothing to do with Trump.

As others have said it'll bring lots of jobs and other benefits, money well invested. Someone mentioned it being in the South, it was located based on maximum amount of people within a certain travel time. All 5 surrounding councils are on board and a very well planned and detailed local consultation was done and so the majority of locals are in favour.

Other similar projects seemed to be all about flashy artists pictures and grand statements. When I first saw the plans for this it was all about upgrading stations and adding a new road junction to handle the increased traffic straight from a main road. I think they've really done their homework.

Universal are prepared for this. Universal in Florida experiences high levels of rain, even hurricanes. There will be indoor rides and attractions, it will be a 365 days a year park.

It's literally the best investment they could make for the country. Jobs, tax, VAT, people off the dole, sale of goods, tourism.

Where would you spend the money thst wouldn't be a sunken cost?

And it's more useful than HS2.

Crafta

literally not the point of the thread 🤷‍♀️

Absolutely. I’m a theme park enthusiast and have been following this for years. The boost for the economy will be huge. We’re annual pass holders for universal in Orlando and live in the UK so people shouldn’t underestimate the pull this park will have. It won’t just be a theme park, there’ll be a hotel and an area like Citywalk in Orlando which will be restaurants, shops and bars. In Orlando you don’t need park tickets to access citywalk so hopefully UUKR will be the same. I’m excited to follow the construction! Watching Epic universe being built was brilliant but this will be another level.

Depends on whether I needed a job, then it would be great. If not then I'd probably move out and air bnb my house for the tourists.

And even if I stayed, there would be better infrastructure locally.

If you live in the south you will know the repeated issues with water supply does not a theme park or AI data centre make...
I wonder what homework they did if they missed the water trucks giving bottled water to thousands over the last year or two?

What a stupid idea. The climate will make this a money drain unless Labour envision welfare recipients working there for free. Disneyland Paris has been in the red every year and has cost billions more than it ever generated. Paris is well south of the UK with a better climate.

Given the COL crisis, it’s not like the locals can afford to go there. This is purely aimed at attracting tourists but why would a tourist go to Universal in the UK? When they can go there and to Disney in Florida?

Universal are going to feel really silly when they find out about the UK weather

or, they’ve spent years researching and have decided they are going to make a lovely profit.

I think it is a great idea. It is a huge investment. It will create jobs and bring in tourists from far and wide.

Think it will be a great success. The U.K. needs something like this

I live in the south, we haven't had any issues. There are some areas where there are problems for sure, but it's not universal (pun intended!)

I don't believe that you haven't had issues with either sewage on a beach near you, flooding in the winter, issues with drinking water (either not having any or having bacteria in) or huge delays in repairing of leaks. If it hasn't happened in your town or village it will have happened locally. Why would you want your risk to increase?

It’ll be crap like anything else here, they won’t have a functioning priority system for disability it’ll be the whole Merlin/nimbus card fiasco. Rather than modelling a system on somewhere like Disneyland Paris for example . Plus they won’t be proactive with updates and renovations when needed it’ll get run down (again see Merlin attractions , butlins, centre parks etc) it’s all about profit and no upkeep in the UK. Probably miserable underpaid workers too. Will be a disaster.

What a brilliant idea!

Maybe read up on basic economics OP.

What issues have you had with your water supply? We’ve lived in London for decades and have never had a problem.

There was a local issue with a damaged supply in (I think) Sussex, but that could happen anywhere, so presumably that’s not what you are talking about.

Why would not having a priority system for disability make it crap?

It's been five days.

I don't think OP is coming back. I do question motives when this happens, I don't think OP wanted to engage in discussion.

As others have pointed out, the investment will produce taxes from sales, corporation tax, business rates, income tax and reduce benefit payments.

Tony Blair once had a similar idea but thankfully his plan for a Las Vegas style Supercasino in Manchester never went ahead, because we have enough gambling problems already!