Marsh Farm Essex: Plans lodged for £1.6m dinosaur park

Marsh Farm in Essex was taken over in 2013

A proposed £1.6m dinosaur park would be an "amazing addition" to an animal adventure park, its owner said.

Plans for the attraction at Marsh Farm in South Woodham Ferrers, Essex, have been lodged with Chelmsford City Council.

It would feature replicas of pre-historic creatures, including stegosaurus and velociraptor.

Marsh Farm owner James Sinclair said it would be a "really exciting big development" for the farm.

The velociraptor, as pictured in the BBC's Truth About Killer Dinosaurs programme from 2005, would feature in the new displays

The plans will be considered by the council's planning team in due course.

Mr Sinclair, who took over the 50-acre (20-hectare) site in 2013, said there would be a "dinosaur walk-through", a "fossil dig", a theatre for talks and shows, and dinosaur-themed ice cream.

"We want to make it the best place for zero to 10-year-olds to go out in Essex," he said.

"We feel it would be such an amazing addition to our farm."

The farm first opened to the public in 1984

According to the proposals, the addition of a dinosaur-based attraction would form part of children's educational experience at Marsh Farm, providing both "recreational and educational opportunities within a themed environment".

It also suggested the attraction would help Key Stage 1 and 2 schoolchildren and encourage learning through fossil hunts, dinosaur jigsaws and bone puzzles.

The application said: "There is both national and local planning policy support for development of this type associated with an established and thriving rural animal adventure park enterprise.

"There are no technical reasons why the development should not be permitted."