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The dream of a multi-billion pound, Disneyland-rivalling, sprawling entertainment park on the Swanscombe Peninsula is officially dead, KentOnline can exclusively reveal.
The last rites were read to the company by a High Court judge who ordered the company behind the London Resort project - London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH) - into liquidation.
The £2.5 billion proposed park - set to feature rides, restaurants, hotels, create tens of thousands of jobs and pulling in millions of visitors - was first proposed in 2012.
But, after locking horns with entertainment giant Paramount - which had been left furious by a broken contract it claimed had left it owed millions - its legal pressure has now brought the curtain down on the scheme.
A spokesman for LRCH said: “The dream of the London Resort has been ended by the courts. Natural England fatally wounded the scheme, a single creditor has killed it and, with it, any chance of the UK competing on the envisaged scale of London Resort.”
Speaking exclusively to KentOnline in October, last year, Kuwaiti businessman Dr Abdulla Al-Humaidi, the original main driving force behind the scheme, said the project had “destroyed my life” adding “it has ruined my reputation and left me bankrupt”.
However, he had still insisted the park could still be turned into a reality. That hope is now, finally, over.
Steve Norris, former Transport Secretary under John Major’s Conservative administration in the early 1990s, and a former chairman of LRCH - stepping down last year - described the park’s failure as “a tragedy”.
Speaking to KentOnline today, he said: “I cannot comment on recent events since I resigned from LRCH some time ago, but I offer only one observation.
“Abdulla and his family put millions into the project. A decade on from when the project started it still does not have planning consent which is a terrible reflection on our sclerotic planning system.
“I am fairly sure that one of the main reasons why funding from the Gulf dried up was because nobody there could believe the UK government was sympathetic to the project if it still did not have planning consent after so many years and so much money spent.
“Paramount’s attitude appears strangely unhelpful to say the least. It’s a tragedy for those who have lost money, for Abdulla and his family, for Kent and for the UK.”
Initially warmly welcomed - with enthusiasm further stoked by a host of exciting computer generated images as to how the park would look - repeated delays saw that slowly turn to pessimism.
It suffered a host of setbacks - most significantly when the 372-acre site it intended to build on was declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 2021 by Natural England. That decision was made after environmental campaigners fought against the plans.
It delivered, say those close to the project, a “mortal blow” to the scheme.
The London Resort had been designated a NSIP - a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. To proceed, it needed to secure what’s known as a Development Consent Order (DCO).
But just a day before years of preparation were due to begin to be presented before planners, in March 2022, London Resort dramatically withdrew the plans, citing environmental and transport issues.
LRCH had limped on ever since - regularly promising to resubmit its plans - but with no real progress made.
The NSIP status - which is listed on the Planning Inspectorate website as applying to LRCH - is likely to die with the company, lifting the cloud of uncertainty which has hung over businesses on the peninsula in recent years.
The judge’s decision on Friday coincided with the Planning Inspectorate awarding legal costs to a host of companies which had conducted work ahead of the DCO bid, before it was shelved, due to LRCH’s “unreasonable behaviour”. It said the withdrawal of the DCO was made “without sound reason, and exceptional circumstances have not been demonstrated”.
These included the likes of the Kent Wildlife Trust, Bugs Life, National Highways, Network Rail and a joint submission by Kent County Council, Dartford Borough Council and Ebbsfleet Development Corporation.
LRCH has also been told to pay costs to Merlin Entertainments, a rival theme park operator and the company behind the likes of Chessington World of Adventures and Thorpe Park. It had opposed the plans.
LRCH, faced with administration in March 2023 after becoming swamped in debts totalling £100m - continued to cling to life by ushering in a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) - a legal device allowing new terms to be struck with those to whom it owed money.
While getting a majority of creditors to agree to the terms - which would have seen them issued shares in the company - movie studio Paramount took umbrage at the deal.
It vowed to take the case to the High Court, claiming LRCH had broken its terms of contract and owed it some £14m.
In December, an insolvency judge in the High Court found there were at least three “serious and irremediable” breaches by LRCH of its agreement to pay creditors.
This included Paramount, which had originally agreed a deal to lend its own name and intellectual property (IP) rights, such as the ability to use the name of movies such as Star Trek, The Godfather and Mission: Impossible to attractions, before reneging.
The American firm told the court in October LRCH had not adhered to its obligations under the CVA.
It aggressively pursued LRCH and was due for a High Court showdown this April. That case, which had put all plans for London Resort on hold, will now not take place.
It marks a bitter denouement to a relationship, between LRCH and Paramount, which had originally seen a deal struck for the project to be known as Paramount Park.
However, the naming rights deal was scrapped in 2017 before, exactly two years later, a fresh agreement was reached to allow its IP to be used to brand rides and attractions but no naming rights.
However, those close to the scheme say the LRCH “cupboard is bare” and that all those owed money by the ambitious scheme are unlikely to get recompensed.
Liquidation will see a team of specialists appointed to identify property or assets it can liquify in order to pay back some - but that is unlikely to get anywhere close to the total monies owed.
The site earmarked for the London Resort site, on the peninsula, went on the market last year as the company which owned it, Swanscombe Development LLP was put up for sale last year. Negotiations over the land continue.
LRCH had paid several million pounds over the years on an option to buy the site once the all-important DCO had been granted. Its option expired in December 2022 and had not been renewed subsequently.