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The Guardian
25-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Universal theme park deal secured with UK pledge to spend £500m on transport
The deal to build Universal's new theme park in Bedford was secured with a package of support that included £500m of public investment in rail and road infrastructure, it has emerged. Comcast, the parent company of Universal, is in negotiations over the final scale of the overall government assistance, which could be expanded beyond infrastructure investment. The entertainment company, which had been considering a number of countries to build the theme park, announced in April that it would build the attraction on a 192-hectare (476-acre) site at the former Kempston Hardwick brickworks. The significant government offer of financial support for the project comes amid a push by Keir Starmer and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to kickstart sluggish economic growth. The approximately half a billion pounds in infrastructure spending comprises £270m in rail upgrades including a new station at Wixams, which had originally been planned more than 20 years ago, and about £200m for road works, according to the Financial Times which first reported the arrangement. Last year, Bedford borough council entered an agreement with Network Rail to construct a two-platform station at Wixams at a cost of £62.6m. However, local councillors said at the time that if the Universal theme park was approved it would need significantly more investment with a much bigger four-platform station. The government has said the theme park, which is due to open in 2031, will bring a £50bn boost to Britain's economy and create 20,000 jobs in construction, with a further 8,000 operational roles once it is up and running. About 8.5 million visitors are expected in its first year of operations, with Comcast estimating that the UK will take in an additional £14.1bn in tax over 20 years from the site. In April, the government overruled planning inspectors and approved an almost doubling of capacity at Luton airport, which is expected to be one of the main air hubs used by visitors to the park. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Comcast's plans are still to be scrutinised by the Planning Inspectorate, with a final decision made by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Comcast, the Treasury, the Department for Transport and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport declined to comment.
BBC News
29-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
First shop opens in old Debenhams store building in Bedford
A former Debenham's store has been given a new lease of life as a cultural ground floor of the store in Bedford, which closed in May 2021, is now is visitor information centre, gift shop and box office for the town's Corn Exchange, marking the first phase of the site's Borough Council bought the space last year and Conservative mayor Tom Wootton said it was "vital that Bedford had something at the heart of it" after it had "sat empty for so long".He added that he hoped that the authority would have a developer on board for the rest of the site by the autumn, and that plans for it would be seen by the New Year. The authority was the preferred bidder for the site - known as Mayes Yard - spending about £1.8m to purchase it in said the move marked "another positive step in Bedford's town centre renewal, following the recent openings of other new stores, restaurants, and community spaces".The venue also provides an opportunity for people to buy Bedford gifts previously available in the Higgins Art Gallery and Museum, and displays from the Bedfordshire Art Loan Collection can be viewed in its ground floor windows along Silver Street and the High Street. In terms of the rest of the building, Wootton told the BBC the "eventual plan was to have shops on the ground floor and flats and houses and actually have people living in the town centre".He added that "timescales for things are always problematic for councils and things always slip" - but he hoped that "over the next couple of years you will see plans coming forward and things developing".Wootton pointed to the future arrival of Universal studios in the town as one of the motivations for developing the said: "We want to be ready in four or five years' time when millions of people start coming here, so they have got somewhere to go."The town is changing and we are doing all this cleaning and litter picking which is endless, but we are determined that Bedford is gonna be the place to be and I am really excited about that." Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
