The American company behind plans to build the largest theme park in Europe on a 283-hectare site in Bedfordshire is holding "productive talks" with the UK government.
Universal Destinations and Experiences (UDE), based in Florida, announced its plans for a Universal Studios theme park in the UK last year after acquiring the brownfield land and is preparing a planning application.
UDE’s parent company, the multinational media giant Comcast, said in May it hopes to make a final decision on the scheme by the end of 2024.
A Bloomberg report earlier this month stated that Chancellor Rachel Reeves might approve the project in her economic speech this week, where she will give government backing to a number of major infrastructure schemes, including a third runway at Heathrow Airport.
Blake Stevenson, the Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, where the park could be built, said yesterday in the House of Commons that people might be surprised Reeves had not mentioned the project and asked when the talks would be concluded.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones replied: "I hope to come back soon with an update," although he did not specify a date.
A UDE spokesperson said: "We are having productive discussions with the UK government and will have more to share in due course."
Both the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the project’s sponsor, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which is believed to be overseeing the planning process, declined to comment.
UDE said the park, which is expected to cost several billion pounds to build, could provide 28,000 jobs and generate £14 billion in tax revenue to the public coffers over the first 20 years of operation.
The park is seen as a direct competitor and will be larger than Paris Disneyland, which is currently the most visited tourist attraction in Europe.
Universal Studios in Florida, covering 541 acres, is one of the most visited theme parks in the world and was the first in the network, which now includes parks in Los Angeles, Japan, China, and Singapore.
In July last year, leaders from six local authorities signed a letter urging Keir Starmer to give the green light to the project, which, according to Bedford Borough Mayor Tom Wootton, would be "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to provide transformational economic growth and development for the region."
This venture may have gained an additional boost in December after news that plans for its main competitor, the £3.5 billion London Resort, which was to be built at the mouth of the River Thames, were cancelled.
The 465-hectare park, also billed as the largest in Europe, was first proposed more than 14 years ago, but the High Court ordered the liquidation of the company behind the scheme.
Its planning application was withdrawn in 2022 after Natural England expressed concerns that its former industrial site on the Swanscombe Peninsula provides "ideal conditions for a unique wildlife diversity," including one of the rarest spiders in the UK.