A.T.I

She's going ahead... Project Exodus is finally officially approved!!!

Planning Committee will be talking about Exodus on the 5th October and the agenda says that the planning committee will be recommended to grant planning permission!

We have a TPM article which details things a bit more. But for here...
 
In short: 
1. The Officer Report says that the council have been recommended to grant the application.
2. HOWEVER, as there are objections from the EA still in place, if it is granted, the application has to go to the Secretary of State for review. This could result in the council's decision ultimately being over-ruled.
 
The Officer Report basically supports Thorpe with regards to the EA's objections. It's also noted how frustrating dealing with the EA has been, with them taking 8-12 weeks to respond and log their issues, when the park have been very prompt with giving extra details. Indeed, the original expectation was that a decision would be reached 13 weeks after the application was submitted (back in MARCH), and the EA is effectively the sole reason this has not happened. Thorpe are aware of the potential issues that could come about with the application going to the Secretary of State for review.
 
I don't know what would happen during a review by the SoS, how long it could take or any potential issues / delays it could have. But presumably the park and their planning consultations are confident the application won't be rejected in any case, and are just so fed up with the EA at this point that they're pressing forward. This will hopefully mean they won't lose too much ground in terms of construction and still be able to open it in 2024.
 
So exciting times, but still with an asterisk next to it for now...

Ok so the EA has got back to Thorpe and they are withdrawing their third objection:- 
 

 
https://docs.runnymede.gov.uk/PublicAccess_Live/Document/ViewDocument?id=A9AD7DB3E5854B9686F139BE08E3D049
 
Objections 1 and 2 still remain, however. The only way these could be overcome would be to build the coaster elsewhere in the park which obviously won't happen, especially considering much of the park already lies within floodzone 3b. So now we just have to await the council's decision, whenever that may be.

Ok so the EA has got back to Thorpe and they are withdrawing their third objection:- 
 

 
https://docs.runnymede.gov.uk/PublicAccess_Live/Document/ViewDocument?id=A9AD7DB3E5854B9686F139BE08E3D049
 
Objections 1 and 2 still remain, however. The only way these could be overcome would be to build the coaster elsewhere in the park which obviously won't happen, especially considering much of the park already lies within floodzone 3b. So now we just have to await the council's decision, whenever that may be.

Natural England have today Withdrawn their objection(s) to project exodus.
 
If I have got this correct, this is separate to the environment agency’s objection which relate more to flooding then anything else.

One less hurdle and hopefully stuff starts to pick up as we reach September.
 
Maybe a sign of things to come….  Or maybe not 😝
 

PLANS HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED.
 
Some highlights:
-The ride will feature trains of 20; 10 rows of 2. The trains will have lapbars.
*Not too surprising, but nice to know.

-No manufacturer is confirmed; this is not of interest for planning permission, but it is acknowledged it is of interest to roller coaster enthusiasts. Equally, the application just mentions ride comparison are done to a 'similar ride in Europe'

-The ride will reach a maximum speed of around 130km/h (though this is not definite)

-The ride will have a light track colour high up, similar to Stealth
*This was mentioned in the consultation period. I haven't found confirmation of *what* the colour is for the high points, or the low points. This is usually contained within there somewhere.

-The ride's highest points are: 72m, 50m, 48m and 43m
*This puts to bed an initial thought I had that the park might try to go for the world's tallest inversion record.

-Lots of trees will be planted around the station building

-During construction, the lake will be infilled partially. Originally, the supports were meant to go into the lake, but it looks like they will go into a small part of land within the lake. I guess this is a compromise between having a nice looking lake and ease of maintenance.

-The expanded construction area appears to just be for the *full* demolition of Loggers Leap, as opposed to just the bits in the way. So no extended layout.

-Construction should start late this year, and the whole process should last 16 months. So Spring 2024 opening

Now some more photos:


An interesting look at an alternative layout


Trees





In past applications, we have gotten a look at the design of buildings, etc. But I can't find any of that. Usually we'd even get fencing plans, saying the style, height, material of every fence in an application. Again, doesn't seem to be here. Interesting, in a geeky sorta way. All I can say about the station is it has walls and a metal roof (a roof shouldn't be taken for granted). So there's no clarity on theming, style, colours or anything.

Random note: the transfer track is after the station and at the start of the ride, as opposed to at the end of the ride / before the station. Somewhat different.

RMC was also considered for Wicker Man very early on in the planning process, but they instead opted for GCI.

I hope that the new coaster will be a B&M or a kind of Intamin family coaster. I predict that the net new coaster at Thorpe will open 2019/2020, cause I've heard people saying that Derren Brown's ghost train cost as much as a giga.By the way, can someone tell me what LC and WC mean? Cause the Swarm was codenamed LC 12 and DBGT WC 16. I presume its similar to Alton's Secret Weapon series.