Milton Keynes is already asking a pretty important question: is the city ready for Universal UK?
A new BBC report looks at how Milton Keynes is preparing for the arrival of the Universal United Kingdom Resort in 2031, with the park expected to attract around 8.5 million visitors in its first year.
Although the resort itself will be built in Bedfordshire, the economic and transport impact is clearly going to spread much further across the region. Central Milton Keynes is only around 20 minutes from the Universal site by car, and one of the most interesting details in the report is the expectation that shuttle buses could run from Milton Keynes Central to the resort as frequently as every seven minutes.
That potentially makes Milton Keynes an important gateway for visitors travelling to Universal, particularly those arriving by rail.
But some councillors are questioning whether enough planning is currently taking place. Conservative councillor Johnny Luk says Milton Keynes needs to make sure local residents and businesses are at the front of the queue for the opportunities Universal will create, while also properly preparing roads, rail services and other infrastructure for the additional demand.
Milton Keynes City Council leader Jane Carr says work is already well underway, with the council looking at tourism, transport, jobs, skills and opportunities for local businesses.
And this is perhaps the bigger story here. Universal isn’t simply going to have an impact on the land inside the resort boundary. A development expected to attract millions of people every year is inevitably going to influence hotels, restaurants, transport, employment and investment across a much wider area.
Bedford will obviously be at the centre of that, but places such as Milton Keynes are clearly positioning themselves to take advantage too.
By 2031, we could be looking at a very different tourism and business landscape across this whole part of the country.
