Ministers met eight councils in Bedford on 20 August. Bedford has no planning power over the Universal site: breaches go to the government, not Borough Hall.

The government brought eight councils together at The Swan Hotel in Bedford on 20 August to work out how the Universal United Kingdom Resort at Kempston Hardwick can be made to pay for the people who live around it.

Stephanie Peacock, the Minister for Tourism and Place, chaired the roundtable. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport says it was the first meeting of its kind, and that it brought together government, Universal Destinations and Experiences and local authority leaders and chief executives from:

  • Bedford Borough Council
  • Central Bedfordshire Council
  • Luton Borough Council
  • Milton Keynes City Council
  • North Northamptonshire Council
  • West Northamptonshire Council
  • Huntingdonshire District Council
  • the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority

The MPs for Bedford and Mid Bedfordshire were there too. Bedford Borough Council’s account of the day names them as Mohammad Yasin and Blake Stephenson, and puts Mayor Tom Wootton and chief executive Laura Church in the room alongside a senior Universal representative.

Two structures came out of it. A Socio-Economic Taskforce, aimed at getting the local workforce ready, and themed working groups on creative industries, culture and heritage, and the visitor economy. Neither the government release nor the council’s names a date for a first meeting, or sets a target for how many of the jobs should go to people living in the borough.

The numbers, and where they come from

Both releases use the same two headline figures: 28,000 jobs and nearly £50 billion for the UK economy. The council’s own Universal page breaks the jobs figure down further.

Figure
Construction jobs 20,000
Permanent jobs once open 8,000
Visitors a year at opening 8.5 million
Visitors a year later 12.5 million
Opening 2031

Source: Bedford Borough Council, Universal United Kingdom Resort. These are projections for the project as a whole and for the UK economy, not promises about Bedford borough. Nothing published so far says what share of either number lands inside the borough boundary.

Mayor Wootton said the resort “will be like nothing we’ve ever seen in Bedford Borough, and we’re doing everything we can to maximise the value it will bring”. The minister said the resort is “more than just the thrill of a new theme park on their doorstep”, and that the government wants “communities across Bedford and the wider region to feel the benefits of this investment”.

The part that gets missed: the council is not the planning authority

This is the fact that changes what a resident should do about the site, and it almost never appears in coverage of the project.

Permission for the resort was not granted by Bedford Borough Council. It was granted by the Secretary of State through the Town and Country Planning (Entertainment Resort Complex, Bedford) Special Development (No. 2) Order 2025, made on 15 December 2025, laid before Parliament on 16 December and in force from 12 January 2026. The Order covers land at and adjoining the former brickworks at Kempston Hardwick. It replaced an order made days earlier, S.I. 2025/1315, which was revoked to correct typographical errors.

Under that Order, the detailed documents behind the scheme go to the Secretary of State for endorsement rather than to Borough Hall. Once endorsed they become “controlling documents” that the developer has to comply with, as the explanatory note sets out.

Timeline of the Universal Kempston Hardwick project: Special Development Order made December 2025, in force January 2026, regional summit August 2026, planned opening 2031
Graphic by The Bedford Times

The council states the consequence plainly on its own page: planning enforcement for the site is handled by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, not by the council.

What it means for you

If something on the site affects you. Universal’s own project site says initial on-site enabling works are under way. The council asks residents to contact Universal’s Community Liaison Officer first, on 0345 873 5801, a line it says is staffed 24 hours for breaches, incidents and emergencies. If that does not resolve it, the planning enforcement route is the government’s Planning Response Unit at PlanningResponseUnitSM@communities.gov.uk. Health and safety concerns go to the Health and Safety Executive. Complaining to the council’s planning department will not reach the people who can act.

If you want the work. Recruitment has not opened. Universal’s project site carries a register-your-interest form for future jobs and a separate form for businesses wanting to join the supplier list. Registering now costs nothing and puts you on the list for when hiring starts.

If you want to ask the council something. Bedford Borough Council has a dedicated address for the project, universalGBproject@bedford.gov.uk.

If you are watching the traffic. Nothing published this week commits to any road scheme or new station works in the borough. When something does, it will show up in our Bedford roadworks and travel page rather than in a press release, and the planning trail for anything outside the Order’s red line will still run through the council’s own planning register.

We will keep asking for the two things the summit did not produce: a date for the working groups, and a number for how many of the 28,000 jobs are meant to go to people who live here.