Taxpayers face £300,000 bill to keep theme park deal on track

Negotiations are ongoing over the Visions of China project, which was unveiled last year and aims to build a theme park on the publicly-owned Pithouse West site in Rotherham.

But engineers have now discovered parts of the land are severely waterlogged after a culvert carrying a nearby stream collapsed, and Rotherham Council is concerned the problem could be a deal-breaker.

Tomorrow, a committee led by the authority’s cabinet member for the economy, Coun Gerald Smith, is expected to sanction £300,000 for remedial works, despite the council facing a £30m budget reduction.

In a report to the committee, Lucy Mitchell, the council’s senior implementation officer, says the problem has been caused after the ground collapsed near to where work had already taken place.

The report adds: “To minimise future risk of flooding and to ensure sale negotiations for the Visions of China project are successfully concluded, it is considered essential to replace the culvert as a matter of urgency.

“Following initial discussions with contractors, estimates in the order of £300,000 have been received for the replacement of the collapsed culvert.

“This includes site investigations prior to the start of construction fees, construction costs and a contingency due to the sloping nature of the site and the current unknowns associated with the replacement.

“It is apparent that the scale of the work required is significant and of a specialist nature and a number of contractors have therefore ruled themselves out of undertaking the work.”

Rotherham Council has been in talks with the company behind the £100m Visions of China for several months, and is keen to see the scheme move forward after an earlier idea for the council-owned site flopped.

Previously plans had been drawn up for the Yorkshire Entertainment Solutions (YES!) project on Pithouse West, which is on the edge of Rother Valley Country Park, which was set to include a £250m hotel.

But the deal, which was opposed by countryside campaigners the CPRE, was cancelled by the council early last year and the site put up for sale once again,

It was revealed in July that the council had opened talks with MCD Developments on the Visions of China scheme, which is led by former Center Parcs director Peter Moore.

Early plans suggest that visitors to Visions of China would enter the theme park in a Chinatown-themed street, based on “one of the most vibrant streets in Shanghai”.

They could then sample the luxury of an Oriental spa, restaurants, a traditional tea house, a Chinese hotel and an “enchanting” children’s area, all set around 15 acres of lakes and Suzhou gardens.

It is predicted that the development will create 400 permanent, non-seasonal jobs and will take two years to build once construction work gets under way.

The project had submitted a bid for £5.7m from the Government Regional Growth Fund, but the request was turned down last year.

However Mr Moore said the company was sill committed to the scheme and when the Government’s funding decision was revealed in November he told the Yorkshire Post: “It’s not going to stop us.

“We’re moving ahead. We’re putting our toe in the water in terms of talking to funders.”

The scheme has been backed by Rotherham Council leader Roger Stone and Rother Valley MP Kevin Barron who said shortly after the launch: “This is a £100m project on a former colliery site which would be fantastic for coalfield regeneration. I think it would be good for tourism and somewhere Chinese visitors would go.”