Huge Universal Studios theme park could be built just 25 minutes away from Milton Keynes

The first Universal studios theme park in the UK looks set to be built in Bedfordshire, just a 25 minute drive away from MK.

It would follow in the footsteps of Hollywood and Orlando in the States, Beijing in China, Osaka in Japan and Sentosa in Singapore and would create thousands of jobs for local people.

MK City Council sources say the entertainment giants opted for the neighbouring county because land in Milton Keynes was “too expensive.”

Universal Studio’s parent company Comcast Corporation has purchased 480 acres of land Kempston Hardwick and Stewartby, a site that once housed a famous brickworks where one in five of England’s bricks were made.

The site is close to Luton Airport and the M1 is and easy to reach from London for the hundreds of thousands of visitors that would be expected each year.

Over Christmas, residents in Bedford and nearby villages received letters from Universal Studios inviting them to share their views of the massive proposals.

The letter stated: “While we do own the land, we are only at the beginning of our feasibility study as part of our evaluation of potential sites...It may well therefore be many months before we decide whether to proceed with the project.”

No planning application has yet been lodged but Universal Studios has created a special website to keep people updated.

The company’s external affairs spokesman John Reynolds told Sky News that Universal had been encouraged by the “positive nature of conversations” with stakeholders, including Bedford Borough Council and the town's mayor.

“We plan to work closely with our local communities should we progress,” he said.

There are rumours that Universal had first considered Milton Keynes as a destination for the theme park, which would have a huge economic impact on its surrounding area.

But an MK City Council source told the Citizen: “Land around MK is too expensive for this sort of thing as it’s all optioned for warehousing and logistics – and that’s almost as expensive as housing land right now.

"They chose where they have as it’s got Thameslink and is going to have a new Wixams station for East West Rail.”