A long-awaited plan to build a £3.5 billion ‘UK Disneyland’ on the outskirts of London has finally been scrapped following a row over funding and the conservation of a rare type of spider.
Plans for ‘The London Resort’ were unveiled nearly 14 years ago, which was to be located on the Swanscombe Peninsula between Dartford and Kent and was billed as Britain’s equivalent to Disneyland Paris.
Promoters of the scheme boasted huge partnerships with the BBC, ITV and Hollywood studio Paramount, which would have seen attractions based on Top Gear, Paddington Bear, Mission: Impossible and Doctor Who.
Other features were set to include eight huge roller coasters and different zones containing medieval castles, an Aztec pyramid, a 2,000-seat theatre and a nightclub.
The resort, which was predicted to create 30,000 jobs and bring in 12 million visitors a year, was due to finally open its doors in 2024.
But after accruing over £100,000,000 in debt and falling afoul of Natural England’s decision to designate the land as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, the project has finally been shut down.
Following a High Court application by Paramount, who is owed £13,000,000 by investors, Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Sally Barber found the London Resort Company has ceased trading and ‘appears unlikely ever to do so again’, the Times reports.
Natural England also said the site’s former industrial use had created a landscape with ‘ideal conditions for a unique variety of wildlife’, including a variety of plants, birds, and the distinguished jumping spider – one of the rarest insects in the country.
Last year, London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH) – the company behind the plans to construct the park at a cost of £3.5 billion – entered into an agreement with creditors to continue operating despite owing over £100 million while it secured and additional £607 million of funding.
But Paramount claimed that most of the money the company claimed to owe was a ‘sham’ linked to Abdulla al-Humaidi, a Kuwaiti businessman who ran the scheme until he was declared bankrupt last year.
Al-Humaidi, 38, said earlier this year the scheme had ‘ruined my reputation and left me bankrupt’ after he sunk £40 million of his family’s fortune into the doomed project.
Sally Smith, press and advocacy officer at Kent Wildlife Trust, said the sale of the land once earmarked for the theme park came as no surprise as ‘the plans for the London Resort and the theme park on the site have been dead in the water for some time.’
‘We’ve been fighting to have that special planning removed from the site so it can be protected for nature for future generations to come,’ she added.
Two further hearings will now take place next year to decide the firm’s fate.
Another court hearing on January 17 will take place determine whether or not LRCH can place itself in administration.
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