New £200m Calais theme park plans spark row
The mayor of Calais is under fire over plans to build a £200 million theme park - only two miles from the migrant Jungle camps.
The Times reports that Natacha Bouchart believes the theme park, called Heroic Land, will improve Calais' image, turning it into a tourist destination while generating jobs and revenue.
See also: Man clings to camper van from Calais to Kent
See also: Mayor of Calais threatens to block port over immigrants
However, not everybody is happy about the proposed plans. The Daily Telegraph reports that 10 Socialist MPs in northern France have complained that the project is being pushed through without public consultation.
The site adds that Yann Capet, MP for the Pas-de-Calais region, claims there was a "lack of transparency", and is demanding a "public debate", a standard consultation procedure for large infrastructure and public works projects in France.
The French government has funded a €220,000 feasibility study, and will put in a further €400,000, and Ms Bouchart hopes the rest of the €275 million construction costs will be covered by private investors.
Heroic Land will be built on a 50-hectare site around two miles from the New Jungle, the makeshift camp for migrants.
It will aim to be opened in 2019, and hopes to attract around 1.5 million visitors a year.
Calais has become synonymous with chaos as migrants try to cross the Channel to the UK, disrupting Eurostar train services and ferries.
Promoters of the Heroic Land theme park suggest it would create 1,000 badly needed jobs in an area that has one of the highest unemployment rates in France.
Marc Legrand of Calais Promotion said: "The creation of the park will associate Calais with a positive image. It's not because there are migrants here that we can't do something enterprising."
He added that migrants "won't be interested in it because it won't help them get to the UK."
The park will have 32 attractions linked to themes like Jules Verne, the French author of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, science-fiction films, Lord of The Rings and Japanese manga cartoons.
