"Margate's unique selling point is the iconic Scenic Railway - so where better in the UK to put the world's first heritage amusement park than next to the UK's most famous piece of amusement park heritage?"
Nick Laister, Campaign Leader

The Save Dreamland Campaign launched its new proposals for Dreamland on 30 April 2007: the Dreamland Heritage Amusement Park (click here for the news item).

The Campaign launched its previous Vision for Dreamland - 'I Dream of Dreamland' - in March 2005, which showed a Concept Plan of how Dreamland could look if acquired by one of the theme park operators interested in taking on the site. This plan was backed by Southend's Adventure Island Theme Park, one of the operators vying to take over the park.

Following a series of meetings meetings with Thanet District Council and the Margate Renewal Partnership (MRP) between January and April 2007, the Campaign developed the concept of a Heritage Amusement Park for Dreamland, based around the listed Scenic Railway.

Our vision for the world's first Heritage Amusement Park would be to include some of the remaining examples of Britain's amusement park heritage - many of the rides being rescued from parks that have recently closed down - in a high quality park-like environment around the Scenic Railway. The listed Cinema building would also be brought back into use with rides, shows, bars, restaurants and an amusement park/seaside heritage museum.

The Campaign has carried out some initial feasibility work on the viability of the project and has commissioned theme park designer Jean-Marc Toussaint to produce a new Concept Plan (see below) for the site showing how the park could look, based on an initial site area provided by MRP. The Plan shows a potential selection of vintage amusement park rides of the type that could operate at the park, including those rides that have already been acquired for the project.

The Campaign sees funding from the developer of the remainder of the land within Dreamland, along with other grant funding, as critical in delivering this attraction. The Save Dreamland Campaign has set up The Dreamland Trust, which will play a key role in delivering the Heritage Amusement Park project. We believe that this is the best option to secure the future of the Grade 2 listed Scenic Railway and for the distinguished history of the park to be recognised. It is also the best way to rescue the historic amusement rides that will be lost following the closure of a large number of Britain's seaside amusement parks over the past few months. It is an ideal way of safeguarding and preserving the UK's amusement park heritage at this critical time. The Trust is currently in active discussions with a number of parks with a view to saving their threatened vintage rides and moving them to Dreamland. The Dreamland project should capture the public's imagination and will also undoubtedly play a pivotal role in the regeneration of Margate, creating a contemporary and unique living museum.

Initial feasibility work undertaken by the Save Dreamland Campaign and by independent consultants suggests that the project will be viable. Further ongoing feasibility work on the project is being undertaken by a leading tourism consultancy.  

We believe this proposal to be right for Dreamland and hugely beneficial to Margate as a tourism destination. We are confident that this is a realistic proposal, which should attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to Margate every year.

The Concept Plan (updated 1 July 2007)

The Concept Plan has been designed by Jean-Marc Toussaint, the man behind our original 'I Dream of Dreamland...' plan. It demonstrates that the Heritage Park can be accommodated within approximately 7 acres, the exact location to be determined at a later date. More information on the project's feasibility and the Concept Plan will be added to this page over the coming weeks, as our proposals are developed further. 

The Campaign has consulted with its own members on the Heritage Park concept, and the response has been overwhelmingly favourable.

Click here for the latest news.
Click here for the May 2007 press release.