What happens when eight million Universal visitors need the loo?

A new theme park is forecast to attract millions of visitors and create thousands of jobs – and an awful lot of sewage.

But the water treatment works close to Universal's planned site in Bedfordshire is already at capacity, and there are warnings that upgrade plans will need to be "sped through".

In December, the government granted planning permission for the park on a former brickworks at Stewartby, about six miles (10km) south of Bedford town centre.

Expected to open in 2031, it will be one of the biggest in the world, with rides that could be inspired by movies from James Bond to Jurassic World.

The movie giant says it will create 8,000 permanent jobs and the park is expected to draw eight million visitors in its first year, potentially rising to 12 million by 2051.

But Anglian Water says Bedford Water Recycling Centre (WRC) will not be able to cope with the park's output without a major upgrade.

Currently, the plant has permission to return about 35 million litres of cleaned sewage back to the environment per day, in fair weather.

According to planning documents, Universal could eventually send 10.6 million litres a day of "foul discharge" to the plant.

Standing inside Bedford WRC, Geoff Darch, Anglian Water's head of strategic asset planning, says the site is "at its limit".

The theme park will be "like an additional small town being added in to this area – so it's something we've got to take really seriously", he says.

In November, Anglian Water told Bedford Borough Council's planning committee that up to 1,100 proposed new homes should not be occupied until work to upgrade the WRC had taken place, due to an "unacceptable risk of pollution".

The planning committee approved the new homes without the condition, however, saying legal advice did not support it.

The firm already has permission from regulator Ofwat to spend £70-80m expanding Bedford WRC by about 50% by 2035, funded by a rise in customers' bills, which went from an average of £1.45 a day in 2024-25 to £1.72 in 2025-26, a 19% increase.

Darch is optimistic the works will be ready for Universal to open but says sewage plans – once firmed up – will need to be "sped through the regulatory process".

"This is a very fast timescale. It's much quicker than the normal development timescale," he says.

To accommodate Universal and other planned growth, applications that might previously have taken a "couple of years" to deliberate now need considering "in a matter of weeks and months".

Universal, he continues, will "pay their fair share of development costs" at the sewage works.

Ofwat said Anglian Water had not yet formally submitted details of how Bedford WRC would need to expand further to accommodate theme park visitors.

Simon White follows news about sewage discharges avidly.

They happen when water treatment works become overwhelmed, usually after rainfall, allowing highly diluted sewage to spill into a river as a "safety valve".

As president of Bedford's Star Rowing Club, White, 60, has responsibility for crews training and racing on the River Great Ouse.

He says nearby plants seem to be spilling sewage into rivers "more often" and that club members – perhaps one or two a month – were becoming ill.

Recently all four rowers in one boat went down with sickness and diarrhoea.

While he can not be certain, White blames water-borne bugs from sewage.

Star's rowers are upstream of Bedford WRC so may be affected by sewage from elsewhere.

While he backs plans for the park, which he says will be "great for the economy", White warns: "We will need to make sure that the infrastructure is there before those eight million people start trying to use the loo."

Gerry Sansom, a former chair of the Bedfordshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is even more blunt than White.

"Essentially Anglian Water are using the River Great Ouse as a sewage outlet – and it's not acceptable," he says.

According to data from the firm, 92 spills from Bedford WRC were recorded in 2024, for a total of 1,291 hours.

However, monitoring equipment was only operating for 28% of the time, meaning the real figures might have been higher. It has since been fixed.

Sansom, 75, also wants to see Universal come to Bedfordshire, but says: "Our concern is sewage capacity and the protection of this wonderful environmental asset of ours: the River Great Ouse and the valley area."

Water quality should be "maintained and not decried" and biodiversity "improved", he adds.

In response, Darch says the company only spills sewage when "absolutely necessary".

It does so, he continues, "to protect customers, who would otherwise themselves be subject to very unpleasant flooding".

Investment in water infrastructure is overseen by Ofwat, usually in five-year cycles.

Ofwat said it understood "unforeseen requirements can arise" and that it had the "flexibility to consider new schemes".

A spokesperson added: "It's vital that [Anglian Water] continues to engage with Universal on the best way forward to enable the development and we will work with all concerned to ensure that infrastructure enhancement is supported where needed."

Local MPs recognise both the opportunity and urgency of the situation.

Mohammad Yasin, Labour MP for Bedford, says the park will be "fantastic for the area" and that he will be "pushing government and Universal" to solve any sewage issues.

"I'll be knocking on every door possible to make sure that my constituents don't get affected by this," he adds.

North Bedfordshire Conservative Richard Fuller, whose constituency includes stretches of the Great Ouse up and down river of Bedford, says it is "in everyone's interest that this [theme park] project now goes ahead".

"We know there's going to be a problem in the capacity of the sewage works at Bedford. That needs to be fixed.

"I would hope Universal Studios, as well as Anglian Water and the national government, are all looking about how best to do that."

Universal did not respond to requests for comment.

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