It’s high time the government steps in and puts an end to long drawn out plans for a “Dartford Disneyland” once and for all.

That’s the view of the town’s MP, council leader and various businesses operating around the Swanscombe Peninsula, where proposals for the £2.5bn London Resort project were first mooted in 2012, who now say “enough is enough”.

It had been billed as the largest entertainment project in Europe since Disneyland Paris with proposals for two theme parks, a water park and a conference and convention centre providing thousands of jobs.

But more than a decade on there remains little to show for the blueprint but a boggy patch of marshland and a planning quagmire.

And earlier this month the project was dealt yet another blow when Steve Norris, chairman of London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH) - the company behind the ambitious scheme - stood down.

All of which has led to calls from politicians and businesses alike to put the project to bed.

For more than a decade the London Resort has loomed large over people and businesses on the Swanscombe Peninsula who have been told they face being relocated under compulsory purchase powers.

Denise Lee, who works at Blazon Fabrications on an industrial estate earmarked for the plans, told KentOnline: "As far as we're concerned the plans are dead in the water. It’s not going to happen now.

"In our mind, the latest development means it has been scrapped. We’ve just been carrying on as normal. This phase won't happen and I can't imagine anyone else will back the same project.

When asked if it’s good news for her workplace and others, the office manager added: “100%, absolutely.

“We don't have to relocate and can look forward now rather than be on tenterhooks and wait for a compulsory purchase to come through the door.”

But for others, any chance of a reprieve has come too late.

Martin Povey, who runs a haulage firm on the Swanscombe side, explained how he actually moved his company to the canal basin in Gravesend because of the issues with the London Resort - and later the landslip on the A228 Galley Hill Road last year.

He said: “Galley Hill Road was the final straw. Customers couldn't get to us. Even we couldn't get to us from where we lived.

“We got so fed up with the uncertainty. We could not expand because we did not know what was going to happen.

“We decided enough was enough and we moved our business. It cost us about £40,000 to move but after 12 years we could not take any more.

“They keep changing the people in charge. All they've achieved in the last 12 years is getting in debt and ruining people's businesses.

“Nothing final has still not been submitted."

In March last year LRCH announced it was calling in administrators after amassing millions in debt.

Eight months later, original partners Paramount - which were due to lend its brand names to rides – declared they were suing LRCH over the process and “featured irregularities”.

Mr Norris’s departure is just the latest in a long line of senior figures quitting the team pushing the proposals.

In the summer of 2019, the London Resort appointed PY Gerbeau as its chief executive.

The French businessman was famed for transforming the fortunes of the Millennium Dome in 2000 - a project which ultimately would morph into the O2 Arena in Greenwich - and was a senior executive at Disneyland Paris.

But despite numerous statements of intent - including saying “to all the naysayers and doom-mongers the London Resort is going ahead, as planned” - by December 2022 he had quit.

When Gerbeau left the project for good, the company confirmed its plans were to be “significantly” scaled back.

Having pulled its original plans in 2022, it has, to date, not submitted a revised version.

In addition, it emerged at the end of last year that Universal Studios had initiated plans for a huge theme park in Bedford - fuelling the suggestion it could usurp the London Resort plans.

Ironically, the former brickworks site it has its eyes on was once considered – and then discarded – by London Resort.

Although outgoing chairman, Mr Norris, who insists he’s only stepping down for work reasons, adds: “My own view is that if Universal had a choice between Bedford or Ebbsfleet they’d immediately want Ebbsfleet. I reckon Paramount think the same.

“So the prospects for an entertainment resort in Kent remain good. The US players know the UK is the obvious place for a European facility on this scale and the HS1 [High Speed One] line is a huge advantage.”

Despite its planning pitfalls the London Resort project is still defined as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP)

, which means the ultimate decision as to its planning success or otherwise is determined by the minister of state.

NSIPs - usually assigned to large-scale projects such as airports and major roads - bypass normal local planning requirements.

Last year, various wildlife organisations penned a letter to Michael Gove, the secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, asking him to axe the London Resort’s NSIP status.

In their address, the coalition of wildlife charities argued revoking the NSIP direction was essential “to secure the future of this nationally important wildlife site”.

But the government said the environmental impact on the site of any prospective proposal would be considered once an application had been submitted.

Dartford MP Gareth Johnson believes the project’s NSIP status exposes a “flaw” in the planning process and “needs to change”.

He told KentOnline: “The London Resort plan has failed due to the developers totally ignoring local concerns over the proposals.

“The genuine questions local people had over the environmental impact of this theme park and traffic problems were never adequately answered.

“NSIPs can be successful but it is wrong that they cannot be amended or withdrawn. That needs to change.

“The uncertainty this proposal placed over the local area is unacceptable and highlights a flaw in the current legislation.”

In December, a motion was put forward by Dartford council for the government to strip the project of its status and restore planning control to the local authority.

Speaking at the time, its leader Jeremy Kite (Con) said: “It’s fair to say that the patience of many members is now exhausted and there is very little new information emerging from the backers, which is a disappointing state of affairs.

“First and foremost this is part of our borough, not an investment plaything and local people have a right to be involved.”

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities was approached for comment.