It has been confirmed that plans for the London Resort, the proposed theme park resort development on the Swanscombe Peninsula, have been delayed once again with plans now not expected to be submitted until 2019.
In an article published by local newspaper Kent Online, London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH), the company behind the proposed £3.2 billion development, have confirmed their intention to push back the submission of the planning application for the theme park resort. Developers had been planning on carrying out a fifth round of public consultations between April-June this year, with a view to submitting the planning application by the end of 2018. At this time it is not known when these consultations will now take place.
Speaking about these latest developments, Humphrey Percy, LRCH Chief Executive Officer, said:
“We have reached a pivotal gateway stage in our application preparation. We believe it’s important to be clear about the challenge in the preparation and delivery of a project of this scale and complexity. It is fair to say that we did not sufficiently estimate the scope for ‘unknown’ issues to impact our programme. One example of which has been the significant changes in the way in which we must assess the transport implications and consequent environmental impacts.
“We have, to date, spent approximately £55m and, as is not unusual for a project of this scale, the pace of activity has varied. We know that many people are disappointed that we are revising our programme, but we cannot, nor should we seek, to shortcut proper process in our assessments simply to meet our self-imposed deadlines. We are very much looking forward to progressing further with the project this year with the intention of submitting our application in 2019.”
This new delay is the latest in a series of postponements for the project which has seen the fifth round of public consultations continually pushed back from their initial scheduled date of early 2016. Although LRCH have not mentioned if this latest delay will see the proposed opening date of 2023 move back once again, members of the Peninsula Management Group which represents 140 businesses which would be forced to relocate to make way for the London Resort have said the current status of the project could mean it would not be possible to open before 2026 – 7 years later than the date set when the project was first announced.
It would also appear that local support for the project is diminishing, with the uncertainty being created by the many delays to the project causing doubt amongst some people that LRCH will ever deliver on the project.
What are your thoughts on this latest setback for the London Resort Project? Do you think the plans will ever come to fruition, or have they now experienced one set back too many? Share your views over on the Attraction Source Forum.
