New theme park: Universal Studios… Bedford!

Freefaller said:
Mate - I left that basket case as it was driving me insane. I don't think I can work in central gov again, they just don't listen to their experts. That said they want to bring money into Bedford by allowing people to move there as per your argument about the rural villages - imagine being able to live there and commute to either London, Cambridge or Oxford? Seems quite a sweet spot, but yeah, the project itself is just run by stooges that haven't got a clue.
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Improving commuting to London is the only thing that will make it more desirable to live around Bedford. I don't see anyone realistically doing the same in any large numbers to Oxford or Cambridge as there are hundreds of not that expensive rural villages much closer to both of them, and the salary delta is much lower.

One other thing that annoys me with the east west rail is they had a prime opportunity to relocate the train station to somewhere that has much better road access whilst doing it, and they completely ignored it. The biggest insurmountable issue with Bedford train station is that you can't get to the station without getting stuck in local traffic for the centre when there's a prime spot for a train station serviced really large and underutilised roads literally 0.5 miles up the track!

Anyway, off topic, but I'm hoping they use the investment to improve rail links even further between Bedford and London
 
rG-tom said:
The trick to Bedford is to live in one of the many very pretty and quiet rural villages near Bedford, not in the centre, and then take advantage of the very quick train into London :)
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As @Nasher points out though, they're throwing up awful new builds all around them and it's slowly swamping the villages. Wixams is a good example, initially it was supposed to be a small-ish estate but the recent increase in homes takes it to around (i believe) 4-5000 in total which is up there with small towns like Shefford and engulfs local villages like Wilstead etc. It's the same with Shortstown and the estate going up around there, not that Shortstown is a prime example of one of the quaint villages though :cry:

jpaul said:
I don't get that they think Bedford can become a theme park tourism destination without having other attractions...
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It'll be no different to other theme parks around the country in that you tend not to have other big attractions in the immediate vicinity. Although as someone else mentioned, Warner Bros Studio isn't too far, plus you have Centre Parcs in Woburn, and London is a 40-50min trip on the train.

Diddums said:
Excellent. I hope there's a Harvester, Toby Carvery and Wetherspoons nearby to supply all the Stella.
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There's a Brewers Fayre and Carvery within spitting distance along with a Premier Inn; so those bases are already covered :cry:
 
rG-tom said:
Improving commuting to London is the only thing that will make it more desirable to live around Bedford. I don't see anyone realistically doing the same in any large numbers to Oxford or Cambridge as there are hundreds of not that expensive rural villages much closer to both of them, and the salary delta is much lower.

One other thing that annoys me with the east west rail is they had a prime opportunity to relocate the train station to somewhere that has much better road access whilst doing it, and they completely ignored it. The biggest insurmountable issue with Bedford train station is that you can't get to the station without getting stuck in local traffic for the centre when there's a prime spot for a train station serviced really large and underutilised roads literally 0.5 miles up the track!

Anyway, off topic, but I'm hoping they use the investment to improve rail links even further between Bedford and London
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why do things that add value when you have a narrative that makes you seem more clever?

Plus they don't even want to talk about freight routes on the line which is more beneficial than commuter trains.

But you're right, they're selling it as the "silicon valley of the UK" which is complete and utter ********.
 
visibleman said:
As @Nasher points out though, they're throwing up awful new builds all around them and it's slowly swamping the villages. Wixams is a good example, initially it was supposed to be a small-ish estate but the recent increase in homes takes it to around (i believe) 4-5000 in total which is up there with small towns like Shefford and engulfs local villages like Wilstead etc. It's the same with Shortstown and the estate going up around there, not that Shortstown is a prime example of one of the quaint villages though :cry:


It'll be no different to other theme parks around the country in that you tend not to have other big attractions in the immediate vicinity. Although as someone else mentioned, Warner Bros Studio isn't too far, plus you have Centre Parcs in Woburn, and London is a 40-50min trip on the train.


There's a Brewers Fayre and Carvery within spitting distance along with a Premier Inn; so those bases are already covered :cry:
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Yea Wixams is stupid. I looked at a house there when it was brand new. Obviously the houses are worth about 50k+ less than they were asking, but wouldn't budge. So I bought an older and cheaper one with much more land elsewhere.

Some of the 3 and even 4 bedroom houses don't have driveways or real gardens. But they also made the roads super narrow and no parking on pavements allowed lol
 
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jpaul said:
how has the housing stock in Milton Keynes been maturing - built in 80s with the lower insulation standards and building standards

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I don't get that they think Bedford can become a theme park tourism destination without having other attractions - do people really visitDisneyland Paris or Orlando without also being attracted&spending nearby;
brexit still has a long shadow too, and we need to make a choice between our european/chinese/american friends.
The inbound tourism organisation predicts a record 43.4 million visits in 2025, with spend of £33.7 billion. That will be 19 per cent above the amount that foreign tourists spent in the last pre-Covid, pre-Brexit year, 2019 – but, allowing for inflation, around 9 per cent down.
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Yes? People go to Disney land solely for Disney land.
 
Nasher said:
Yea Wixams is stupid. I looked at a house there when it was brand new. Obviously the houses are worth about 50k+ less than they were asking, but wouldn't budge. So I bought an older and cheaper one with much more land elsewhere.

Some of the 3 and even 4 bedroom houses don't have driveways or real gardens. But they also made the roads super narrow and no parking on pavements allowed lol
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Likewise, i looked at a few places there but it's a complete mess of an estate especially for the prices asked. It seems to be the going theme with the new estates around here though, like the one in Wilstead near the BT exchange or the newish estate near Oliver Street in Ampthill.

Saying that, Wixams might be a decent purchase at the moment if you have the view of selling it in a handful of years given the new station going it.
 
Freefaller said:
It's relatively close to Luton - which makes it convenient, and the rail links.
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if i've got my positioning right it's about 30 minutes from luton town centre (far too close!), about 20 minutes from MK (so the M1/A5) and you could potentially reach it from london in about an hour and 20 via train and bus assuming you got a train to MK station and I'd expect they'll do busses from there to allow for people travelling from London (about the same purely by rail direct it seems).

This is just using existing roads etc.
 
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Werewolf said:
...and you could potentially reach it from london in about an hour and 20 via train and bus assuming you got a train to MK station and I'd expect they'll do busses from there to allow for people travelling from London (about the same purely by rail direct it seems).
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There's the Marston Vale line on the west side of park that takes you to Bletchley where you can can change for MK Central etc, which they may use.
But i believe the current plan is to extend the platform for park access at the new Wixams station (here, here), situated on the east side of the park, which will be on the Bedpan/Thameslink line. So there should be links all way to Brighton including St Pancras, Luton Parkway (airport) and potentially further north with EMR. Plus you then have the intersect with the new Oxford to Cambridge line at Bedford.

It's seems on paper to have very good transport links but i still have my doubts with the local road infrastructure supporting the planned 8.5m yearly visitors. I don't believe a single junction on to the A421 will be enough given the A421 has a habit of inducing bumper-to-bumper traffic at peak times with people trying to go west to MK and the M1.
 
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Werewolf said:
if i've got my positioning right it's about 30 minutes from luton town centre (far too close!), about 20 minutes from MK (so the M1/A5) and you could potentially reach it from london in about an hour and 20 via train and bus assuming you got a train to MK station and I'd expect they'll do busses from there to allow for people travelling from London (about the same purely by rail direct it seems).

This is just using existing roads etc.
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Yep, easy access from all directions by road or train.

Unlike London, where it takes an hour just to drive down one street.

There is no room in London to build this properly and make it look nice. Plus everyone would be at the mercy of TFL and the London mayor dictatorship, who will want to make it as difficult and expensive to drive yourself there as possible.
 
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visibleman said:
It's seems on paper to have very good transport links but i still have my doubts with the local road infrastructure supporting the planned 8.5m yearly visitors. I don't believe a single junction on to the A421 will be enough given the A421 has a habit of inducing bumper-to-bumper traffic at peak times with people trying to go west to MK and the M1.
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They’ve said they’ll fund more junctions on the A421. Last sentence here:

www.bbc.co.uk

James Bond and Paddington could star at Universal UK

Lord of the Rings and 007 – but not Harry Potter – are expected at the Bedfordshire theme park.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
 
Werewolf said:
if i've got my positioning right it's about 30 minutes from luton town centre (far too close!), about 20 minutes from MK (so the M1/A5) and you could potentially reach it from london in about an hour and 20 via train and bus assuming you got a train to MK station and I'd expect they'll do busses from there to allow for people travelling from London (about the same purely by rail direct it seems).

This is just using existing roads etc.
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the midland mainline runs right past it into bedford, which is a 40 minute train from St Pancras, or 19 minutes from Luton Airport Parkway. This would be ~5-8 minutes closer at a guess?

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I assume they must be adding a station there, it just wouldn't make sense not to. Google says they'll be adding one at Wixams for this purpose.
 
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I read a plan maybe a year ago showing new stations at either side of the park for both lines. So unless they ditched that, it could have it's own stations.
 
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