The final dagger through the heart of plans for a £2.5 billion Disneyland-style theme park and entertainment resort in Kent could be set to be delivered.

Dartford council is now calling on the government to strip the London Resort project of its status as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP).

If successful – and a final decision will lie with Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities minister Michael Gove – it would almost certainly spell the end for the troubled venture.

First announced in 2012, the London Resort was earmarked to be built on the Swanscombe Peninsula, a 260-hectare green space and former cement works on the banks of Thames Estuary between Dartford and Gravesend.

Featuring a heady mix of rollercoaster rides, water parks, cinemas, restaurants, live entertainment venues and thousands of hotel rooms, it was set to rival Disneyland Paris and be at least three times bigger than any other UK theme park.

Developers promised when built it would create thousands of jobs and see millions pumped into the local economy .

Originally due to open in 2019, as the years have dragged on, it became stuck in a planning quagmire.

Now Dartford council says it has lost patience with the project and wants to regain planning control over what can happen on the land earmarked for the park.

Following a motion put forward by Green councillor Laura Edie – a long-time opponent of the plans on environmental grounds – it won significant support.

Leader of the council Jeremy Kite (Con), said: “This week, frustrations with the project rose to the surface again and the council agreed, almost unanimously, to write to the Secretary of State asking for the NSIP status to be withdrawn, so there can be more local input into the future of the site.

“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.”

Cllr Edie said she was “overjoyed” the council had put political differences aside to back the demand. She added: “We are one step closer to protecting the Swanscombe Peninsula and for it to become a nature reserve.”

However, it is by no means clear if, once granted NSIP status, a project can actually be legally stripped of it – a situation which would mean a cloud continues to hang over the land and the businesses which currently occupy it.

NSIP status, as the name implies, is given to major projects such as airports, power stations and major roads.

The system was designed to speed up the process for such projects by taking the decision-making process out of the hands of local authorities and into the relevant minister of state’s.

Once listed on the Planning Inspectorate’s website as an NSIP, the process then moves towards the ultimate goal – securing a Development Consent Order, signed off by the government, which gives the go-ahead for the project to actually be built.

The company behind the ambitious scheme – London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH) – got halfway through the lengthy process before sensationally withdrawing its application in March 2022.

It blamed Natural England’s recent decision to give much of the area Site of Significant Scientific Interest (SSSI) status. While it doesn’t block development, it does require concessions to be made.

In addition, a deal it had with Tilbury in Essex to allow visitors to park on that side of the Thames Estuary and be ferried to the park, fell apart after the port acquired Freeport status.

Since then, LRCH has seen its charismatic chief executive PY Gerbeau – the businessman who turned around the fortunes of the Millennium Dome in 2000 – quit and no new plans submitted.

In March of this year, the company called in administrators after running up debts of £100m and set about restructuring.

Then last month it was reported Paramount – the US entertainment giant which was set to partner and lend its brand names to rides – was suing LRCH over the process and “featured irregularities”.

There have been no public announcements since then and no suggestion new plans are on the verge of being submitted.

Dartford council chiefs say they have had no correspondence with London Resort directly since March 2022.

A spokesman for London Resort, who insisted the project was still alive, would only say: “We’ve not received any correspondence yet on the matter”.

To date, no project given NSIP status has had it subsequently withdrawn.

As one planning expert explained: “They just tend to fade away – remaining only as an entry on the Planning Inspectorate’s database.

“Nothing has happened with this project since it was withdrawn in March 2022. As far as the planning process goes, it’s dead unless something happens to revive it and there seems no immediate suggestion of that.”

Others, however, argue there is no legislative route to have the status rescinded.

London Resort was put on the NSIP list – which includes around 200 projects the UK, among them the likes of Manston Airport and the Lower Thames Crossing – back in 2014.

Now Dartford is hoping a clause in the Planning Act 2008 – which outlines the NSIP process – which says “a power conferred by this Act to give a direction includes power to vary or revoke the direction” will, once and for all, bring the Swanscombe Peninsula back into local control and out of the hands of the developers.

Cllr Edie’s motion said: “The council takes the view that there is no reasonable prospect of the London Resort scheme ever coming to fruition.

“The revoking of the NSIP would result in the council – for the first time in almost a decade – being able to fully exercise its decision-making powers, as the local planning authority, in respect of Swanscombe Peninsula – thereby allowing it to develop an implementable strategy that aligns with the aspirations set out in the sustainability appraisal that accompanies the submitted Local Plan.”

A host of local wildlife charities called upon Michael Gove earlier this year to also drop the NSIP status.

An alternative vision for the neglected nature site with its rich abundance of wildlife encompassing wetland birds and water voles, as well as rare bees, spiders and plants, was also put forward.

The Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities declined to comment when contacted.