Could Universal Studios UK get the green light by the end of January?

It’s no secret that Universal Studios have purchased a huge amount of land near Bedford and have been going through a consultation process around opening a new Universal Studios Resort in the UK which is incredibly exciting, not least because the UK economy really needs it plus it would make Merlin work harder to compete.

You can see all the details on Universal’s ideas here.

So, what’s been happening?

Behind the scenes we know Universal have been buying up some of the houses by the land they own and have been negotiating with the Government around infrastructure, tax breaks and planning consent for the project and whilst the project was delayed by the previous (incompetent) Tory Government news this week suggest Labour could finally give the project the go ahead by the end of the month.

An article published in Bloomberg suggests that as the government looks to accelerate plans for growth given the state of the economy they could, quickly give the go-ahead for a number of projects including the third runway for Heathrow Airport, projects for Gatwick, the new Lower Thames Crossing and, most excitingly…Universal Studios UK!

When will Universal Studios open?

If given the green light it’s expected that it could open as soon as 2030 (but given the delays 2031 is more likely) and the park is likely to include a theme park, hotels and city walk area alongside huge changes to local public infrastructure to improve rail and road routes to the new park.

What could we see there?

We all know the staples of Universal Studios parks around the world include the likes of Harry Potter, Super Nintendo, Jurassic Park and Minions and whilst Universal Studios haven’t confirmed any of these IPs I think it’s likely we’d see these four and more. It would also be great to see some unique themes and plenty of indoor rides given this will be a UK 365-days-a-year park and will need to account for our climate.

What next?

We wait! Hopefully the chancellors announcement in the next week or so will confirm the go-ahead and then we should see construction start. It’s an incredibly exciting time for the UK theme park industry and it’ll be great to see some real competition for Merlin!