Forget Disneyland Paris. Now it’s Paramount World … Swanscombe
In the world of rural economic development I occassionally came across someone promoting a scheme which was so outlandish I used to think they were either an escaped loon or a misunderstood genius. This article bought the heady days of the “noughties” when these sort of things were at their height to mind. I also love the description of the place in the first paragraph.
The Swanscombe peninsula in Kent, where 150mph trains tear past cows munching on alkaline grass in contaminated soil, in the shadow of giant cranes and towers of shipping containers overlooking the Thames estuary, does not scream “Hollywood”.
But if detailed and already rather advanced plans are approved, it will be here – next to Ebbsfleet International railway station – that Britain’s first branded leisure resort will open at a cost of about £2bn in 2018.