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Today – 16th December 2025 – the proposed Universal Studios United Kingdom project has got the green light via a Special Development Order (SDO) from the UK Government! See the letter below, confirming the granted planning permission:

Universal Destinations and Experiences themselves have updated their official website with a letter confirming the planning permission has been granted, though there are still some steps to take in terms of parliamentary review:

Universal have also confirmed that construction activity will begin to increase from now, and they will start to share further updates about the progress, construction and any other relevant details in the new year. There is still no confirmation of any specific rides, attractions or franchises that we can expect to see in the park – hopefully we get to learn more about this in the new year too. We’ll see!

From the Statutory Instrument (SI), a few things of interest can be found:

There is reference to specific heights in the ‘Height Controls’ section (Part 6):

• ‘Medium component‘ – refers to structures of a height between 10 and 20 metres.
• ‘Tall component‘ – refers to structures of a height between 20 and 75 metres.
• ‘Very tall component‘ – refers to structures of a height between 75 and 115 metres.

This may well be an indication that (as anticipated) we may be seeing some very large attractions that could compete with Europe’s current tallest rollercoaster (Red Force at PortAventura, Spain at 112m) – though of course this is not guaranteed.

The SI also acknowledges the capacity of 8.5 million visitors in a 12 month period, as well as a park capacity of up to 55,000 visitors on an individual day (Part 12).

Part 15 details information about fireworks, pyrotechnics and other displays, including:

• No more than 5 firework displays may take place on days that are not Chinese New Year (day 1), 5th November, Diwali, or New Year – 31st December.
• Outdoor drone shows may take place within the core zone (main theme park area).

Finally, information from the SI regarding the operating hours, include:

• 7am is the earliest the theme park may open.
• 11pm the the latest the theme park may close.*
• *On some occasions, the park may open until 1am at the latest for special events. There is also mention of a possible 2am closure for limited events within the year, though this is likely to be very rare.

This is really exciting news for the UK theme park scene, and theme park lovers around the world! We cannot wait to find out what Universal have in store, and we will be posting updates on our website as and when we know more!

To find out more about the proposed Universal Studios UK resort, see our Universal Studios UK: Everything we know so far… post – just click the link in this sentence!