In line with its Medium Term Development Plan that was submitted earlier this month, Merlin Entertainments' Thorpe Park theme park has applied for full planning permission to install a new water ride.

Subject to planning approval being received from Runnymede Borough Council, the 64ft-high (19.5m) ride - to be built by Canada-based WhiteWater West and with a scheduled opening date of 2011 - will be located in the area currently occupied by Octopus Garden. With a theoretical capacity of 600 people per hour, the ride will be a family attraction where a maximum of six people ride upwards in a rubber raft via a conveyor belt to the top of the structure and then spiral downwards on a chute to ground level.