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The company behind a £2.5billion project to bring a Disneyland-style theme park to Kent is allegedly being sued by Paramount.
London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH) has been trying to build the controversial London Resort for more than 10 years but has faced numerous challenges.
Plans for the site on the Swanscombe Peninsula, near Dartford, would have seen it boast attractions such as The Godfather-themed restaurant Corleones and a Mission Impossible “training centre”, as part of a licensing agreement from Paramount, BBC and ITV for it to use their intellectual property.
Now, Paramount, the US entertainment streaming giant, is claiming a company restructuring implemented earlier this year, after the London Resort called in administrators, was “unfair” and “featured irregularities”, Bloomberg reports.
Back in March, a spokesman for LRCH confirmed administrators had been appointed after building up £100 million debts and the company would enter a period of financial restructuring through a Company Voluntary Administration (CVA).
Paramount voted against the deal as a creditor, but lost out as a majority of lenders – more than the three quarters needed – were in favour, it’s claimed.
In proceedings at London’s High Court, the media firm is alleging debts that affected the vote were inflated and assigned to a third party in a “sham” transaction, and is demanding to see the documents that underpin those dealings.
Last December a separate High Court bid to close down LRCH over unpaid debts was dismissed.
Bosses were presented with a winding up petition prior to the restructuring but the bid was dismissed by the judge.
The fees involved were not disclosed but it was determined the debt had been paid.
It's not the first time a business has sought redress from LRCH with law firm BDB Pitmans seeking to recover unpaid fees – understood to total more than £500,000 – from its former client.
London Resort said previously this matter had been "resolved, fully settled and paid".
Dozens of businesses operating in Swanscombe and Northfleet on land LRCH wants to build its Disneyland-style rival have also submitted claims over lost trade.
The first planning application for the project – known as a development consent order – was put forward in January 2021 after the project was granted as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project seven years earlier.
But when part of the development site was awarded Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) status last March, it meant the plans had to be adapted to fit in with updated guidelines relating to future development.
The project is backed by Kuwaiti businessman Abdulla Al-Humaidi, who also owns Ebbsfleet United Football Club, and was part of the LRCH board but stepped down in March as part of a shake-up at the firm.
In July, wildlife charities joined forces to urge Michael Gove to scrap the controversial theme park.
Campaigners called on him to remove the status from the Swanscombe Peninsula and end talks of a Disneyland-style theme park being built there.
Members from Buglife, CPRE Kent, Kent Wildlife Trust and the RSPB, have been working together for a number of years to oppose the plans.
The charities say the peninsula is home to more than 2,000 species of invertebrates, including a critically endangered jumping spider, and 82 species of breeding birds.
It is also home to many orchids, water voles and otters but still remains subject to a revised Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) application by the London Resort theme park.
Campaigners say this status is hindering attempts to save the land from development and get support to enact an alternative vision for the site which would see it become a nature reserve.
Jamie Robins, from Buglife, said: “Buglife, Kent Wildlife Trust, CPRE Kent and the RSPB have continued to voice their concerns over the need to protect this precious habitat.
“The latest development should be the nail in the coffin for this doomed idea and we stand with the Save Swanscombe Peninsular Campaign in asking Michael Gove to remove the NSIP.”
LRCH declined to comment due to ongoing court proceedings.
Paramount has been approached for comment.