Residents of a South London neighbourhood fear its “unbelievable” traffic jams will get worse if a local theme park is allowed to expand to rival the likes of Disney and Universal Studios.
A massive new waterpark with themed water slides, an infinity pool and safari ‘beach’ would open at Chessington World of Adventures Resort under the plans.
People living in Chessington said the world-famous resort helps “struggling” businesses, but raised concerns over whether the area could cope with the expansion.
They said it already experiences “huge” problems with traffic and parking, with one local suggesting another train station should be built closer to the resort if the plans do go ahead.
It comes as planning documents submitted to Kingston Council warned visitor numbers will drop at Chessington without investment.
They said the waterpark would “differentiate it from its competitors” and help it become a “multiday short break destination”.
They added: “The ability to encourage visitors to spend more time at the resort is central to its success.
“Overseas resorts such as Disney and Universal Studios are highly successful at this by providing guests the opportunities to fully immerse themselves in the experience.”
But Masoud Borghei, 70, has lived in Chessington for 35 years and raised concerns about the plans. He said the area already experiences heavy traffic, including from visitors to the resort, adding: “It’s already a jam. It’s already unbelievable in the mornings and in the afternoons.”
He does not think the area would be able to cope with the expansion. He said: “This is not the area for that sort of thing. We’ve got Chessington Zoo already and Chessington Zoo in the summertime causes huge traffic.”
He added “parking is a huge problem in the area” and claimed people leave their cars on Chessington Parade, where he works, “for months”. He said there is “no more space, unless they change all the parks into the car parks”.
Mr Borghei said: “It’s nice to bring people into the area, economically it’s good. But do they think about the whole aspect of it?
“The traffic, the parking, the space, do they think of that? No, they just build something and leave that to people to sort out.”
He said the council should improve the area in other ways before considering the resort’s expansion, including better road maintenance.
He claimed there are lots of potholes in the area while rubbish collections “used to be every day, they cut it to once a week… sometimes they come, sometimes they don’t”. The long-term local is even selling his house and “moving out” of Chessington because “it’s becoming too busy, it’s becoming too much”.
Yaara Kaplan, 40, said Chessington’s proposed expansion could help “struggling” local businesses and “create more jobs”.
She has lived in Chessington for two years and said the resort benefits the community, with many local kids working there in summer.
But she raised concerns about the impact on residents. She warned: “Some days, the traffic towards Chessington World of Adventures is so heavy that you get heavy traffic jams all the way through and it’s very difficult for people to get to work, from work.
“They might need to think about creating diversions so that it will not block the roads here.”
She added: “If they create Disneyland, I think they should have the whole infrastructure, all the facilities.”
This includes improving train services, according to Ms Kaplan. She said the stations are “deserted” and visitors travelling to Chessington South still need to take a bus to get to the resort.
She said making trains “more frequent” and creating “another stop nearer Chessington World of Adventures” could help if the expansion goes ahead.
A train to London Waterloo currently leaves Chessington South, with its next stop being Chessington North, twice an hour.
Ms Kaplan added cash generated from the expansion, if it goes ahead, should be invested “wisely” by the council.
She said: “There is quite a lot of council housing that needs maintenance and repair and I know that people are waiting.”
Kavitha Mariyaarulseelan works at JCM Star Convenience Shop, a thirteen-minute walk from the resort. The 40-year-old said the shop is in a “good location” to benefit from the resort and the expansion would help the business further.
But she also said there were “good and bad” aspects to the scheme for residents, as the area is “very busy” and already experiences “more traffic” in the holidays.
Chessington has already undergone expansion after first opening to the public as a zoo in 1931.
Photo by Charlotte Lillywhite
It grew into a theme park over the years and now has more than 1,000 animals in its zoo and sealife centre, over 40 rides and attractions, two themed hotels, a glamping site and Go Ape course.
Building works for the latest proposed expansion could be completed as soon as 2025 if it is approved, according to planning documents.
A Chessington World of Adventures Resort spokesperson said: “We are committed to refreshing and diversifying our offer to ensure that the resort attracts the next generation of guests in an increasingly competitive market.
“This will help secure existing jobs and create new employment opportunities.
“We believe a water park is a perfect fit for the local area, which currently lacks wet leisure facilities. As part of the application we have carried out detailed traffic surveys and assessments, which both the local authority and Transport for London will assess the validity of.
“Throughout this process we will continue to engage with our local community.”
A Kingston Council spokesperson said it is “committed to delivering a greener, fairer, safer, borough for all residents, working together with communities and partners”.
They said residents can report issues regarding waste, street cleaning and potholes on the council’s website, while it is also campaigning for improvements to public transport in the area.
They said: “Satisfaction with waste and recycling services across the borough is consistently high, with over 80 per cent of residents saying they are happy with their services in a recent survey – and we are committed to raising this even higher.”
They added: “We are committed to keeping our roads and pavements safe and well maintained.
“We carry out regular inspections of all roads in the borough.
“However we understand that potholes and other problems, such as uneven footways or raised or broken manhole covers, may arise between these inspections.”
The planning application submitted by Chessington World of Adventures, the spokesperson continued, “will follow the official planning process and will be subject to the normal scrutiny and consultation”.
Regarding Chessington North and South train stations, a South Western Railway spokesperson said it already provides “good connectivity with Chessington World of Adventures”.
They said: “We provide train services to Chessington South every 30 minutes from London Waterloo, seven days a week.
“These train services have eight coaches and we will soon introduce our new Arterio trains which will provide 10 coach services.
“This will provide more capacity for customers heading to Chessington, including those travelling to the theme park.
“There is a frequent bus service from Chessington South to Chessington World of Adventures which takes around five minutes. The station has benefitted from significant investment in recent years, including when we introduced step-free access from platform 1 in 2019.”
