London Resort Company Holdings, the company behind London Paramount Entertainment Resort, have today announced that they have revised the date for the submission of their planning application for the new entertainment resort.
Originally expected to be submitted in autumn 2015, which would have seen the resort open for Easter 2020, it is now anticipated that the Development Consent Order will now be submitted mid-2016, which means a change in the anticipated opening date for the resort of 2021, a delay of approximately 12 months.
The decision to delay the submission of the Development Consent order comes following the fourth stage of public consultations which saw a number of issues raised, including transport arrangements and the environmental impact of the resort. An extensive range of environmental studies are now set to be undertaken to help further determine the areas for mitigation, including an environmental management plan for the construction and operation of the resort. A full range of studies will also be carried out on the local road network to assess all the possible scenarios relating to potential traffic movements both to and from the resort and other proposed developments in the local area as well as continuing to develop the plans for a dedicated access road to the resort from the A2 to separate visitor traffic from local traffic which would be completed prior to the opening of the resort in 2021. In a statement, David Testa, CEO of London Paramount said:
We have and will continue to carry out further environmental and transport studies to guarantee a robust Development Consent Order application, ensuring we get both the business and masterplan right while giving consideration to matters raised during the consultation process. In light of our ongoing studies and detailed discussions with the Planning Inspectorate and local authorities, we have decided to give ourselves a bit more time to do this and to revise our submission date for the Development Consent Order. It is critical that the application for London Paramount is comprehensive when we present it to the Planning Inspectorate and so we have decided to submit the application in mid-2016. This will see the Entertainment Resort open in 2021.
This is not the first time the project has encountered a set-back in its projected opening date. In autumn 2014, it was announced that the anticipated opening of the resort had been moved back to Easter 2020 from summer 2019 as a result of a reassessment of the feasibility of the original timescale of the project. With this most recent postponement, this means that the project has seen a total delay for its opening date of two years, something which will dismay many of the development’s supporters.
Are you disappointed by this latest delay for London Paramount? What are your thoughts on these latest developments? Make sure you have your say over on the Attraction Source Forum. We’ll be covering the London Paramount project in full so make sure you keep an eye out for all the latest developments.
