The London Resort theme park, dubbed ‘British Disneyland’, is planned to be built in Swanscombe Peninsula in Kent, but the project has been hit by a spate of problems
The dream of a £3.5 billion “British Disneyland” is teetering on the edge as a fierce legal row explodes, more than a decade since it was first announced.
The London Resort, which was unveiled back in 2012 and was set to be built on the Swanscombe Peninsula in Kent, has been plagued by a series of disastrous setbacks. Now, the company at the helm of the project, London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH), often dubbed the “Dartford Disneyland”, finds itself locked in a High Court showdown with Paramount Pictures.
The Hollywood behemoth, previously a partner had lent its blockbuster name to the park’s planned attractions, is accusing LRCH of failing to keep up with payment agreements. An insolvency judge has pinpointed at least three “serious and irremediable” breaches of LRCH’s commitments to pay creditors like Paramount, according to the Daily Star.
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In a twist worthy of a movie plot, LRCH is now embroiled in a High Court tussle with the American entertainment titans over these alleged payment failures. Paramount, once a key ally in the venture, had allowed its name and intellectual property (IP) rights to be associated with the park, potentially giving rise to rides inspired by cinematic hits such as Star Trek and the Mission: Impossible series.
LRCH tabled a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) featuring a debt-equity swap, where unsecured creditors’ debts would be wiped out in return for a slice of the company. Despite Paramount and other creditors kicking up a fuss, the CVA got the green light in April 2023.
Come October 2024, though, Paramount was hauling LRCH to the High Court, claiming they had ditched their CVA duties. Paramount was keen to slam the brakes on them selling any more assets by yanking the CVA. Paramount then put forward a plea to scrap the CVA, to stop any further asset offloading.
The judge uncovered Dr Abdulla Al-Humaidi, said to be knee-deep in financial woes and staring down fraud allegations—not to mention his recent bankruptcy—was the person mainly footing the bill.
Judge Sally Barber let rip at the CVA supervisor for not pulling the plug on the CVA despite all the dodgy goings-on, and she ordered it kaput. She said: “The freehold land, being an integral part of the site on which the theme park is to be built, was not only presented in the proposal as the company’s only asset but was obviously central to its business and therefore to the CVA.
“Without the site, there was no land on which the theme park could be built.”
Earlier on, nature protection outfits had been begging the government to strip the project of its planning status after it got flagged as one of the top spots for breeding birds in southeast England. The initial plans for London Resort revealed it would dwarf other UK theme parks, being three times as expansive. However, following a court ruling where an “irremediable breach” of the CVA’s terms was found, Mr Batty has been ordered to issue a termination certificate.
The looming High Court hearings scheduled for the New Year will be critical in determining the fate of London Resort, with the company looking towards administration as a means to rescue the ambitious project.
