The company which owns much of the land earmarked for the multi-billion pound Disneyland-rivalling London Resort project is up for sale – potentially driving the final nail in the coffin of the ambitious theme park proposals.
Swanscombe Development LLP owns some 372 acres of the peninsula as well as around 39 acres of the Manor Way Business Park.
It had granted an option for the team behind London Resort to buy the land to build the leisure complex. But that expired in December 2022 and has not been renewed since.
London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH) which was behind the £2.5 billion park plans, had invested more than £4m in acquiring the option – all non-refundable in the event of no purchase.
But now Swanscombe Development LLP – a 50/50 joint venture between Aggregate Industries and Anglo American International Holdings is up for sale. And with it, the freehold on the land.
Property firm Savills is handling the sale – for an undisclosed sum – and is inviting offers up until a deadline of July 26.
In its description of the site, Savills says: “The land forms part of an area that is the subject of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) status relating to the proposed London Resort entertainment resort/theme park.
“It was subject to a Development Consent Order submission accepted for examination in January 2021 but later withdrawn. The London Resort scheme retains NSIP status.
“An option agreement in favour of London Resort lapsed in December 2022 and has not been renewed.”
The land comprises of the former Swanscombe Cement Works, which closed in 1994.
Much of the peninsula was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by Natural England in 2021 owing to its grassland, wetlands, birds, and invertebrate species – including one of the rarest kinds of spiders in the country.
It was this categorisation which is thought to have part derailed the London Resort scheme.
Conservation groups involved in the Save Swanscombe Peninsula campaign, which is against the theme park proposals, say the potential sale does not come as a shock.
Sally Smith, press and advocacy officer at Kent Wildlife Trust, said: “It hasn’t come as a complete surprise, the plans for the London Resort and the theme park on the site have been dead in the water for some time.”
The conservation charity would now like to see the “special planning constraints” on the site, in the form of the NSIP, removed to “take away uncertainty”.
“We’ve been fighting to have that special planning removed from the site so it can be protected for nature for future generations to come,” added Sally.
“While that hovers over it there is complete uncertainty as to what happens there.”
Developers behind the London Resort proposals had claimed their would protect the nature on-site while delivering jobs, money and the regeneration of a brownfield site.
They accused Natural England, which granted the SSSI designation, of trying to “frustrate” its plans and labelled its assessment as “unreasonable and unjustified”.
But environmental campaigners have consistently argued the plans are at odds with the abundance of wildlife on site and have lobbied the government’s nature adviser to protect it.
An alternative vision for the neglected “nature oasis” along the river banks of the Thames Estuary was put forward by the Save Swanscombe Peninsula Group which has been working with Buglife, CPRE Kent, Kent Wildlife Trust and RSPB.
London Resort previously said it remained “100% committed” to delivering the project and would commit £150m on environmental improvements.
It said the classification of Tilbury as a Freeport and the decision to designate the site as an SSSI had “impacted the project” and required it to withdraw.
London Resort Company Holdings and Aggregate Industries have been approached for comment.