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Alton Towers unveils ten year development plan
Submitted By: furie
Published: June 30th 2009

The plan has been set out by Alton Towers to provide a strategy for investment at the resort. It's a plan which balances both steady business growth alongside heritage, environmental and local concerns.

In 2007, Alton Towers Resort became a part of the Merlin group. Merlin are the world's second largest dynamic visitor attraction (that means they have a lot of places for people to go and see around the world).

The Alton Towers Resort site itself includes:

• Grade 1 County Sites of Biological Importance.
• "Ancient Woodlands".
• A scheduled Ancient Monument (the iron age Bunbury hillfort).
• Several listed buildings (including the Towers).
• Grade 1 historic gardens.

The long term development plan laid out needs to be sensitive to these and must show no adverse impact.

A plan has been chosen which has a steady increase in attractions and changes to the site. This will have a positive increase in visitor numbers, without creating too much local congestion, or have a heavy impact on the local environment.

Years 1-5 (2010 -2014)

• New landscaped parking areas to be made in the fields to the North of the current car park.
• New rides and entertainments areas - four new or replacement rides of medium to large size.
• More overnight accommodation is desired in the current hotels.
• Heritage investment. Working with Staffordshire Moorlands District Council (SMDC) and English Heritage.
• Woodland and Ecological management. £100,000 connected with the new 2010 coaster. £80,000 has already been spent on this in the last four years.

Years 6-10 (2015 - 2019)

• More parking in the north to replace south parking spaces.
• New rides and entertainments - section between air and hotels to give continuation of resort. 6 new medium to large "attractions".
• More accommodation to be built.
• More heritage and woodland work

So, what does this actually mean for us enthusiasts?

We need to consult the map here:

http://www.coasterforce.com/images/attyp/attyp8.jpg

The most important thing here is the inclusion of four new rides in the next five years. We already know about the new coaster for next year which is one of the four. Other than that, we're looking at either new rides, or replacements for current rides. The plan has three areas for possible coaster location. The one in current Ugland is already under construction. The other two are in Coaster Corner (beyond Cloud Cuckoo land, currently fenced off) and on the South car park between air and Extraordinary Golf.

The map shows areas for possible redevelopment and new coasters. For redevelopment we can see an area around Gloomy Wood - possibly for a new entrance to lead from the new North car parking area. Towers Street (the main entrance) and the farmyard are also marked down as possibly being redeveloped. Cloud Cuckoo Land is shown, which suggests this plan was drawn up last year. Finally, there is the area around the Log Flume.

It's fair to say that the redevelopment of these areas will coincide with the addition/replacement of rides and attractions.

 Those with sharp eyes will notice that Spinball Whizzer is under a patch marked as "relocation". The plan is to create a new strip between Forbidden Valley and the hotels. Spinball Whizzer will possibly be placed here as a coaster attraction, alongside additional food and entertainment outlets. The idea of this area is to link the hotels with the main park, and to give hotel guests additional entertainment and choice while staying at the resort. This area will possibly be open all year round and after the main park closes. This plan will rely on the Resort being able to increase hotel guest numbers, and will coincide with possible extensions to the current Alton Towers Hotel, and a possible new "lodge" style accommodation area.

A major concern for most enthusiasts seems to be the proposed new entrance. The site of the Towers over the lake as you come down the main street is certainly an excellent way to enter the park. However, there's no reason why a new entrance, more tightly integrated into the resort couldn't also have a great impact if done professionally enough. 

There's certainly plenty to get excited about with the plans, with almost a new ride or attraction planned for each year. This has been an excellent opportunity to get to know what;s oging on, and it's an excellent chance for Alton Towers to get feedback on their proposals from the local people.

However, whether the plans will go ahead is all down to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council. The long term development plan will be given to SMDC, along with comments made from visitors to this display. SMDC will then issue a revised guidance to the plans. This will be issued publicly later this year.

Towers Almanac has a high quality full set of the boards on their site here

Discuss this on our forums here

 

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