Theme park development brings farmer opportunities

Sitting in the middle of the reinvigorated Oxford-Cambridge development arc, Bedfordshire is already set to benefit from new transport upgrades.

However, the announcement that Universal Studios is building the largest theme park in Europe on an abandoned brickworks near Bedford has fired up the imagination of local farmers and other rural businesses.

See also: What’s hot and what’s not in the farm diversification market

They could benefit in three main ways:

1. The number of new jobs being created will lead to increased demand for new homes, offering opportunities for farmers with potential development sites
2. Millions of visiting tourists, as well as temporary workers, could supercharge the market for local holiday lets and short-term accommodation
3. Diversified farm businesses could attract park visitors looking for other things to do in the local area. There could also be the opportunity to supply more locally produced food and drink to restaurants and hotels.

Land development

In terms of housing, David Jones, head of agency at Robinson & Hall, which has many clients in Bedfordshire, says the county is already struggling to deliver enough new homes to meet demand.

“In both the Central Bedfordshire plan and the Bedford Borough plan, they’re going to have to accommodate more housing because of this.

Not least in the Borough plan, because the Universal Studios site was meant to be for housing.

There’s obviously land that is already allocated for housing in the local plan.

But people who own the next bit of land near a village or town now have an opportunity to make a more opportunistic application,” points out David.

“Bedford Borough, in particular, has a local plan that’s subject to attack, and there are dozens of applications going in at the moment to try and take advantage of that.

“Some people may well get a planning consent where they wouldn’t have previously on unallocated land. But it can’t be in the middle of nowhere. It’s got to be in a sensible, sustainable location,” he adds.

Tristan Peck, a planning and development surveyor at Robinson & Hall, says lots of developers are approaching farmers in Bedfordshire and the surrounding counties looking to secure good deals on land with development potential.

“Farmers need to ensure that any agreement they sign is in their interest.

For schemes that we’ve not been involved with from the start, it’s not uncommon for us to have option agreements or promotion agreements put in front of us that are quite heavily in favour of a developer.”

In terms of land values, house prices and rental markets, David says it is too early to quantify the effect the studio’s project will have, but “there will be winners, definitely”.

Rental opportunities

William Tongue, head of business, land use and finance at rural consultancy Berrys, says he has already had many enquiries from farmer clients looking to tap into the short-term and holiday rental opportunities offered by the new theme park.

“There are people who are looking to make quite significant changes to their existing on-farm diversifications to take advantage of the potential hike in demand for accommodation, which they perceive as offering better returns and making better use of their property assets.”

William, who also farms near Bedford and hosts a Feather Down glamping retreat, says Universal Studios could be a great opportunity for farmers wanting to develop lodge-style accommodation.

But it’s important to do your homework first, he warns.

“It’s a lot harder to educate families with young children who are staying for just a few days about how working farms operate.”

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Value added

Trying to benchmark how much Universal Studios will add to the local economy is tricky, but Roy Cox, managing director at the nearby Blenheim Estate, states the 12,500-acre property, which attracts about 1m visitors a year, contributes £175m annually.

Adam Davies, a director from Savills’ tourism, leisure and events team, says a study into heritage and the UK tourism economy – based on a random sample of 62 completed National Lottery Heritage Fund projects – estimated that for every £1 spent as part of a heritage visit, 32p is spent on site.

The remaining 68p is spent in local businesses including restaurants, cafés, hotels and shops.

“Generally, major attractions can provide spin-off opportunities, in the form of accommodation and food and beverage requirements in the local area,” he says.

Roy says that the most valuable opportunity is to develop joint ticketing agreements with other visitor attractions.

“We are already looking at partnerships with them on joint ticketing, both domestically and internationally. The multiplier on economic spend in the local area through multi-day stays is huge.

“As ever, brand will be vital to harnessing that additional spend.”