UNIVERSAL has finally been given the green light to open a theme park in the UK.
The famous film studios has been given planning permission to start building the theme park.
A Special Development Order (SDO) has been granted by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which allows the theme park to skip local planning procedures.
This means it will allow it to be built in the suggested location near Bedford.
Expected to start works in January 2026, the park could open as soon as 2031.
It will be the first Universal theme park for both the UK and Europe, with current resorts only across the US and Asia.
Local Labour MP Mohammad Yasin praised the “landmark moment,” adding: “The confirmation of planning permission for the Universal Destinations & Experiences Entertainment Resort Complex is transformational and will be felt for decades to come.”
Estimated to cost £6.6billion to build, it could attract as many as eight million visitors a year.
Little is currently known about what kind of themed lands and rides would open at the UK Universal.
Rumours suggest James Bond, Paddington and Lord of the Rings, Minions, Jurassic World, and Back to the Future.
It is unlikely to include Harry Potter due to licensing rules and the nearby Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction in the nearby Leavesden.
Set across 662 acres, there will be four ‘zones’; the Core Zone, Lake Zone, West Gateway Zone and the East Gateway Zone.
The Core Zone is likely to be the entrance area, as well as where the theme park and waterpark will be.
Plans also include a 500-room hotel.
More accommodation and business hotels will be at the Lake Zone, as well as an entertainment complex ans convention centre.
Then both the West Gateway Zone and the East Gateway Zone will be where guests arrive by train and car, with restaurants and hotels.
This is also like to be where the Entry Plaza area will be, as well as the parking and a 500-room hotel.
The park is expected to stay open all year round, unlike other UK theme parks like Alton Towers and Thorpe Park which only open on select dates like Christmas and New Year.
Not only that but it would have much longer opening hours, suggested to be 7am to 11pm.
It will also have a free-to-visit area where guests won’t need a ticket to enter.
Also included in the theme park plans are a new train station to cope with demand.
The new station would be part of the East West Rail (EWR) line, with train links to Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes and Bedford.
In the mean time The Sun’s Assistant Travel Editor Sophie Swietochowski visited Universal’s huge new £7bn theme park this summer.