04.07.2025

You're going to need a bigger SDO: Consultation opens on Universal Theme Park Application

Yesterday (July 3rd), MHCLG opened a consultation unlike any other that I have seen.  

It is not about a change in planning policy, or a proposed new statutory instrument. Instead, it is a public consultation on whether permission should be granted for a new Universal Studios Resort in Bedford. 

For anyone interested enough to want to have a peek at the application documents, the consultation portal can be found here. The consultation runs until 12:00 on 31 August 2025.

What caught my attention, however, is not the consultation itself* but rather how the application has been made. 

Universal have opted not to apply to the local planning authority in the usual way, nor are they making use of the NSIP regime. Instead, the applicant is asking the Secretary of State to grant permission via a special development order pursuant to s.59 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. 

Special development orders are a form of secondary legislation used to grant planning permission on specific areas of land**. They are not new. MHCLG have made three in the last eighteen months or so:

• The Town and Country Planning (Former RAF Scampton) (Accommodation for Asylum-Seekers etc.) Special Development Order 2024 which granted temporary planning permission for asylum seeker accommodation at the former RAF Scampton
• The Town and Country Planning (Former RAF Airfield Wethersfield) (Accommodation for Asylum-Seekers etc.) Special Development Order 2024 which granted temporary planning permission for asylum seeker accommodation at the former RAF Wethersfield; and most recently
• The Town and Country Planning (Northwood Headquarters) Special Development Order 2025 which grants permission for certain types of development at Northwood Headquarters, for the purpose of national defence.

What is new, however, is the use of a special development order to grant permission for…. well… a theme park. 

Universal's reasons taking this, somewhat unconventional, route are set out in the application's covering letter and are worth reading in full.   For brevity, however, I have summarised some of them below:

• Timeliness – The project timeline requires planning permission to be granted before the end of year can open in 2031. That simply wouldn't be possible if the application was designated as an NSIP under S35 of the Planning Act 2008 or considered locally.
• National Coordination – the project requires coordination among many different agencies at a national level and needs to move faster that Bedford Borough Council's local plan would be able to progress. A special development order would allow the government to act as a national coordinating body throughout.
• Combined consenting route – A special development order allows consent to be granted for the theme park, related works to national and local highways, and railway improvements in a single planning permission.
• Global nature of the consent – A special development order is much closer to the types of regulating consents universal are used to operating under in the US, and Disney operate under in Paris.
• Benefits beyond local importance – The potential impacts of the theme park are of more than local importance.
• Cross-boundary issues – whilst the application itself is located within a single LPA the impacts of the development will be have cross-boundary effects and need to be considered at a larger than local level.
• Significant architecture and urban design issues. 
• National Security – The theme park is expected to attract 55,000 visitors, which raises national security considerations.

I am sure we can all empathise with the desire for a planning application to be dealt with speedily and in a co-ordinated, holistic, manner. That said, many of the concerns outlined above would also apply to… say…. the new runway at Heathrow or Hinkley Point C. Both of which are being considered as NSIPs.

This is the first time, that I am aware of, that a special development order has been sought over land which is not already part of the public estate. You will note that the three listed above all relate to MoD land. It is also the first*! relating to EIA development.

The novelty of the application has clearly given MHCLG cause for serious thought, as alongside the consultation they have published detailed guidance explaining:

• how the application will be handled to avoid conflicts of interest (either actual or perceived) - which includes the application being delegated to the Planning Minister rather than being determined by the Secretary of State;
• the publicity and consultation arrangements that will be applied to it; and
• How the final decision will be notified to the public.

Whilst this a departure from how the previous special development orders appear to have been dealt with, it is a very sensible one given:

• The high profile, and innovative, nature of the application; and
• The high levels of government engagement that appear to have taken place to date. The handling arrangements note lists four separate government departments (outside of MHCLG) who have had some level of involvement with the application prior to submission.

Needless to say, this is an application that I will be with following with interest.

After all, if it goes well, we may end up with more than a major new tourist attraction. We may get a new blueprint for consenting large-scale and complicated development projects outside of the usual planning application or NSIP routes.

I mean, if a special development order can grant consent for a theme park, what else might they be used for? Why not a new town, or reservoir? 

The possibilities could be endless.

 

 

*Although it is fascinating, and I fully intend to have a proper snoop when time permits.

** like a very, very, localised version of the GDPO (in fact, she says, nerdily, the GDPO was also made under s.59 of the TCPA 1990)

*! again that I am aware of

 

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has received a request from Universal Destinations & Experiences to grant planning permission for an Entertainment Resort Complex and associated development at the former Brickworks and adjoining land, Kempston Hardwick, Bedford. The request is accompanied by a statement referred to as an Environmental Statement.

MHCLG has been asked to consider granting planning permission by making a Special Development Order for the Proposal under Section 59 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
.....
You are invited to comment (make representations) on the Environmental Statement, and the other documents, plans, and drawings that accompanied the request for planning permission.”