Universal Great Britain

[extrobeiuf]

in my humble opinion, that is not a good use of government funds

A lot of the work this covers need(ed) to happen anyway. The details haven't been published, but I suspect this isn't all incremental spend (or at least future spend brought forward). The M1 J13 upgrades being a great example - if you've ever traversed that M1/A421 junction, you'd know it was a hot mess and needs rebuilding - with or without Universal.

(Essentially - A421 was upgraded in phases over ~15 years, with responsibility split between Milton Keynes and Bedford, with the M1 junction being the delineation. As a result, it was never really integrated properly with the existing junction, just slapped on top of the existing one. It needs redesigning and rebuilding)

 

[bedfordmassive]

I’ve just been through the Wixams station build - site all fenced off, cleared, levelled etc and plenty of activity on site.

I struggle to see the £250m cost of a 4 platform station. Maybe it will be a Eurostar one (though the site looks to small) or the figure includes other rail upgrades.

 

[xtpower]

Universal have submitted the request for the SDO.

They've sent a local letter updating on progress.

https://universalukproject.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/june-2025-local-letter.pdf

 

[rob@rar]

Honestly, I don’t know. There are local rumours circling that Universal expect full planning consent by August, and that work will actually ramp up on site before the end of the year.

I don't think there is time for the next steps in the planning process for that to be completed by July.

 

[xtpower]

I don't think there is time for the next steps in the planning process for that to be completed by July.

They submitted the request today, so what sort of timeline would we be looking at?

 

[rob@rar]

They submitted the request today, so what sort of timeline would we be looking at?

I think it's difficult to know as this is pretty much a unique way to consider and grant planning permission for a project of this nature, so there is no precedent to look at to see how long other proposals of this kind took. But there's going to have to be some sort of time allowed for whatever consultation the DHCLG is going to run - it's interesting that Bedford Council has just scheduled an Extraordinary meeting of their Executive Committee (which will undertake the Council's response to the planning application) for 30 July. Once the Secretary of State at DHCLG (Angela Raynor) approves the government's final decision (which is going to be 'Yes") there needs to be a few weeks for a basic parliamentary process of actually approving the Special Development Order, which takes three weeks I think, but this needs Parliament to be sitting, which it won't be from about mid-July. So the process probably won't be concluded until the Autumn when Parliament resumes, which is what Bedford Council are on record as saying will be when the planning will be approved.

 

[rob@rar]

The Department for Housing, Communities & Local Government has published a note on the procedure it will use for assessing Universal's planning application.

Edit: for the correct link, see the next post!

 

[xtpower]

The Department for Housing, Communities & Local Government has published a note on the procedure it will use for assessing Universal's planning application.

Link doesn't work Rob.

*edit* Managed to find it myself - Bedford Entertainment Resort Complex: Handling Arrangements