Why are plans for a £3.5 billion ‘British Disneyland’ near London so controversial?

Disneyland is supposedly the happiest place on Earth. It’s full of fun rides, novelty-shaped foods, and joyful, if at times very loud children. Historically, Brits have had to make the trip to Paris, or even to Florida, to experience the magic for themselves, but for a while it looked like that we might be able to get the wonder, thrill and glamour of a Disneyland (but, crucially, not an actual Disneyland) much closer to home. Until, that is, some spiders and a legal battle got in the way.

Let’s catch you up, because unless you’ve been actively following this saga for the past decade (yes, decade), you’re probably a bit confused. Basically, back in 2012, the London Resort, a massive theme park planned for a mere 20 minute train journey from the capital in the Swanscombe Peninsula, was announced. It was set to be designed and built across 535 acres of land with a variety of areas and attractions, and to open in 2024. Needless to say, that didn’t happen.

But why not? Well, this park, dubbed the UK’s answer to Disneyland (although, we stress, not owned by Disney), has come up against quite a bit of opposition. First, it environmentalists, who claimed that the designated land was full of wildlife and got Natural England to name it a Site of Special Scientific Interest, making development tricky.

According to Natural England, an industrial past had created within the area ‘ideal conditions for a unique variety of wildlife’, including ‘over a quarter of the UK’s water beetle species and more than 200 species that are considered of conservation importance’.

Among those species was a critically endangered species of spider, which would be at risk of extinction if the land was used without considering their habitats.

So there was the nature issue, but that wasn’t even the resort’s only challenge. The London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH), which was in charge of the project before going into administration in 2023, was taken to court by Paramount Pictures – which was a partner of the project in its planning stage. Paramount and LRCH are now awaiting their day in court.

And that’s where we are now. The future of the London Resort still, technically, hangs in the balance, if LRCH can find some spare money and work around the wildlife concerns. You never know, though, maybe in another 13 years we’ll look back on all of this as we walk through the gates of the UK’s best new theme park and laugh.

Theme park thrills on Time Out

London’s Disneyland may be in doubt, but you can still get your theme park fix. Check out Time Out’s list of the very best theme parks in the UK. In other rollercoaster news, the world’s tallest and fastest rollercoaster is about to open in Thorpe Park and one of the UK’s most legendary rollercoasters has had a massive makeover. 

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