New £200m water park to open in Oxfordshire with 500-room hotel
A BRAND new water park is hoping to open in Oxfordshire, with slides, an adventure park and a 500-bed hotel.
It will be the first Great Wolf Resort outside of the US and Canada, with more than 18 water parks already open across a number of states.
Hoping to open near Bicester, the huge 45-acre attraction will feature an indoor water park, with slides and pools for adults and kids, along with an adventure park with climbing walls and ropes courses.
Also on-site will be a nature trail, bowling alley, miniature golf, restaurant and 500-room hotel with themed bedrooms.
While no official date has been given for when it will be able to open, the project, first put forward in November 2019, has been approved.
A spokesperson for GWR told local media: “Today we learned that our goal of developing our first Great Wolf Lodge indoor water park resort in the UK was approved."
"We are looking forward to becoming part of the local community and are committed to working with the local residents and businesses to help ensure this resort brings economic, recreational and community benefits to Chesterton and the wider Bicester area.
"The development of this resort represents a £200 million investment into the local community – creating 1,000 jobs during construction and approximately 600 jobs to operate the resort.”
The planning application was declined in March 2020, following an £80k campaign from locals who fear it would "decimate" the nearby town of Chesterton.
However, this has been overturned with planning authorities giving the green light.
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Some other exciting water park are also hoping to open in the UK including a £250m water park and spa in Manchester and indoor water attraction in Derbyshire.
Until then, here are the best water parks in the world - with the number one being in Spain.
We've also rounded up the best all-inclusive water park holidays with TUI.