Defence Online

A proposed £37m family theme park in Yorkshire with the capacity to create hundreds of jobs has taken a major step forward following the submission of detailed plans.Gulliver’s Valley Resort would be a year-round theme park experience, aimed at two- to 13-year-olds and featuring rides, attractions, soft play and indoor fun, alongside a variety of accommodation options.The proposed resort is earmarked for the former Pithouse West opencast colliery site near Rotherham, once destined for the Yes! Project and later Visions of China. Up to 215,000 sq ft of buildings could be constructed on the near-240-acre plot of land.Plans for the major scheme have now been submitted to Rotherham council by the Smith Jenkins consultancy.Designed, built and managed by Gulliver’s, the central theme park, would incorporate areas arranged around a main “fairy-tale castle”.The theme park is categorised in five ride areas providing more than 40 rides and attractions, many of which are at the three existing Gulliver’s parks including a wooden roller coaster, log flume, rapid rides and pirate ship.As well as the Gulliver’s Valley Theme Park and Gulliver’s Adventure Park attractions, there would also be a number of hub features, including Splash, Nerf, and Adventure zones as well as Gully Town Tots and Main Street.The Lilliput Castle Hotel is the centrepiece of the park providing a family venue of up to 100 bedrooms as well as forming the main catering hub.The remaining area of the site would be developed to provide complementary facilities to the main theme park uses, including two further family hotels, 12 holiday lodges, camping, a spa and fitness facilities and an ecology centre.A total of 1,728 car parking spaces are provided.Most of the buildings within the park would not exceed ten to 15 metres in height although Gulliver’s Lilliput Castle would rise to 20m high and some rides would be 25m high and there would be a 40m observation tower.Phased construction is expected to extend over a 12- to 15-year period, starting in 2017, if approval is granted.Gulliver’s World is a second generation family business, which began as a model village in the Peak District and now operates parks in Matlock Bath, Warrington and Milton Keynes.