April 10, 20169 yr comment_232029 Rattlesnake was also in a pit due to height... The only areas of the park that they cannot build rides on are were Zufari sits now, which got permission due to the zoo stuff being a part of it... The entire park doesn't sit on green belt land, and also has noise issues with neighbours (Vampire)... The point still remains that a good park can work around constraints, rather than just not bother...
April 10, 20169 yr comment_232036 Benin is right You have lots of parks out there that have planning barriers but are still able to get around them creatively. Take Phantasialand for example with its neighbours where the park tables this by building attractions indoors or surrounded by heavy theming. Or Europa Park with the agreements of silver star. Even sister park's like Towers & Lego have done a better job of tackling planning issues as at least they're trying to tackle them. Sadly Chessington just isn't fighting. It's walking away.
April 10, 20169 yr comment_232084 Rattlesnake was also in a pit due to height... The only areas of the park that they cannot build rides on are were Zufari sits now, which got permission due to the zoo stuff being a part of it... The entire park doesn't sit on green belt land, and also has noise issues with neighbours (Vampire)... The point still remains that a good park can work around constraints, rather than just not bother... Read the post. "Due to local planning restrictions (a result of the park being on green belt land) the land designated for the ride area was excavated" Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232109 No, Sam is right, the entire park is green belt, the boundary goes right up to the housing estates now, you can check them on the rtpi and local government websites yourself if you want. There are also not many people within earshot of the site, I've worked at one of the houses that is closest to Chessie and you can't hear a thing (you could hear Fury's chain more than you could Vampire), noise may be an issue, but it's more of a perceived noise issue, rather than an actual one (you can't even hear the park from the garden center), the traffic is a bigger deal for the locals, which is ironic considering the traffic is no better when the park is closed. Knowing local authorities, any planning issues are more that they haven't done enough to bribe them for permission, if a person who will remain nameless can get permission to build housing estates and industrial estates on green belt (twice on two different districts) then he's doing something different to chessington if they're having issues (which planning records show they're actually not).
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232110 Nope, due to height restrictions so the top of the ride would not be visible outside the park (much like Fury and it's temporary permission when originally built)... Like, these restrictions are NOT purely down to it existing on green belt land, but due to the nearby residential areas... Like pretty much every other park in the world... The area of green belt the park is on is the boundary/where Zufari is anyway... As I mentioned beforehand... Let's also bear in mind that Rattlesnake was built in 1998, so if these changes have come about, dates would be very useful, rather than stating "it's on wiki" all the time...
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232113 Urgh, as Sam and I mentioned, the entire site is green belt, had you bothered to check you would know the boundary goes right up to Barwell Lane. Green area designates Green Belt land....
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232114 But does it matter how much of the site is green belt? If a park want to invest, they'll find a way. Simple as that really.
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232115 Oh that's right I forgot, never let the facts get in the way of a good internet argument.... my mistake
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232116 So if the entire site has always been green belt, how did they build stuff in the first place? Didn't hold it back before did it? As Josh says, goes back to my original point, any park has restrictions, the challenge is to work within them...
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232118 I don't know, my only assumption if as said, it's not that they simply cannot be bothered to apply, then perhaps the boundaries were changed at some point in the past, there is an area round here that was regraded from brownfield to green belt to stop a devolper building houses on it (mainly because the area was below sea level and flooded regularly and the devolper had pissed off a councillor, but they changed the boundary here none the less). I don't think anybody was disagreeing with your point over all parks having restrictions and working within them, just your insistance we were wrong when it came to the green belt boundaries.
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232119 Let's also bear in mind that Rattlesnake was built in 1998, so if these changes have come about, dates would be very useful, rather than stating "it's on wiki" all the time... As I stated in my original post Wikipedia isn't the only place I gathered my information from, I learned it from various sources and some examples of green belt land at Chessie is all the open areas such as the one near the South Entrance, one or two near the Smokehouse BBQ, or near Hocus Pocus, Zufari, which is so bumpy because they weren't allowed to modify the terrain, and Rattlesnake. Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232120 So if the entire site has always been green belt, how did they build stuff in the first place? Didn't hold it back before did it? As Josh says, goes back to my original point, any park has restrictions, the challenge is to work within them... Because some land they CAN build on, they're just not allowed to modify terrain wise, and in terms of that type of land they're running out. Merlin have been investing, it might have been all hotels and shows, but that's still investment. I find it as frustrating as you but Merlin have to put as much thought into it as possible before applying because they know what land is available and what isn't. And when it comes to removing rides the only rides I can think of that aren't popular with any age group and don't draw in queues are Griffins Galleon, and Jungle Bus. Neither are going to give you much space. Toadies may be falling apart but whenever I go it seems to have drawn a queue and its a great ride for kids. When I was little Toadies was amazing.Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232121 But does it matter how much of the site is green belt? If a park want to invest, they'll find a way. Simple as that really. It's alot easier to work around noise issues etc. then to work around green belt issues.Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232126 Toadies will only draw a queue because it runs with hardly any cars!
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232129 Toadies will only draw a queue because it runs with hardly any cars! Precisely. When I worked there it could run up to five cars and we all used to call it the easiest ride to operate in my area because it never had a queue.
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232137 Toadies only runs three cars these days Merlin have been investing, it might have been all hotels and shows, but that's still investment. . Toadies may be falling apart but whenever I go it seems to have drawn a queue and its a great ride for kids. When I was little Toadies was amazing.Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk The way Chessington is going though, it'll just be a few hotels, a zoo and a few puppet shows with the way things are going. Toadies only runs three cars these days. Judging it takes 3 minutes to complete the circuit, add two minutes for loading/unloading, you're looking at about a maximum of 12 people every 5 minutes. When you times that by 6 the potential result is the ride takes around 144 people per hour [PPH]. That is a terrible throughput for a ride at Chessington [let alone other parks] and knowing the park it's probably even less. This means if there's only a dozen parents with a couple of kids queuing, youre already looking at a good 15 minutes or more queue time. Real investment needed in the park would be: redeveloping the leftside of Wild Asia and putting a dark ride where the play house and maybe other rides are, Ripping out Toadies for a thrilling fun family coaster [Juvelin, smaller Taron] starting from scratch on a new dark ride for Tomb Blaster [like Ratatouille or Gringotts]
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232165 The green belt land is the REASON it's built in a pit. Quote from Wikipedia (Wikipedia isn't the sole source I gathered this into for, have heard this from various places): "Due to local planning restrictions (a result of the park being on green belt land) the land designated for the ride area was excavated" Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk You're saying they can't modify terrain because it's on green belt land yet that's the reason the area was excavated? Does digging a pit not count as modifying
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232166 Urgh, as Sam and I mentioned, the entire site is green belt, had you bothered to check you would know the boundary goes right up to Barwell Lane. Green area designates Green Belt land.... I don't think it's just based on looking at that map, as the website that shows green belt land covers Thorpe as well. Must be more to it.
April 11, 20169 yr comment_232216 You're saying they can't modify terrain because it's on green belt land yet that's the reason the area was excavated? Does digging a pit not count as modifying The point is it's because of green belt. I don't know how it works but it resulted in Rattlesnake being dug up.Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk
April 25, 20169 yr comment_233286 https://www.facebook.com/themeparkguide/posts/978428718879094:0 Discuss
April 25, 20169 yr comment_233304 No way will it be for 2017. You're looking more 2019/20 for that Chessies investment year is 2017 isn't it? Maybe that's why the picnic area was cleared and why HITH didn't return.Sent from my SM-G361F using Tapatalk
April 25, 20169 yr comment_233309 Well taking it the LTDP plan won't be approved till end of this year then no doubt needing a more specific one for the coaster 2017 is basically out of the question.
April 26, 20169 yr comment_233391 12 hours ago, Coaster Jamie said: Isn't something happening with Bubbleworks for next year? I haven't heard anything about this?
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