Gulliver's Kingdom to get £1.4 million of public cash for Rotherham theme parkÂ

The attraction, which will be situated on the former Pithouse West colliery between Beighton and Swallownest, hopes to create 250 full-time jobs from £37 million of private investment. 

South Yorkshire council leaders and mayor Dan Jarvis who make up the Sheffield City Region Combined Authority, agreed to give a £400,000 grant sum and the rest of the £1.1 million in a loan. 

The money is set to be used to accelerate the delivery of the visitor accommodation into phase 1 to open in 2020 rather than being delivered in phase 2 of the scheme in 2024.

This phase of the scheme would also '˜accelerate the delivery of 93 jobs by four years'.

The theme park is set to include a water play zone, a NERF arena, a climbing area, a glades attraction and an education and ecology centre encompassing forest classrooms and outdoor learning adventures for children.

The resort will also offer family friendly accommodation in the form of glamping, woodland lodges, and hotels.

The development will include '˜Gully's Dream Village', a community where children with life threatening illnesses can be given the chance to enjoy cost-free respite care. 

Julie Dalton from Gullivers Fun said: "This year we celebrated our 40th year in business, operating family theme park resorts in Matlock, Warrington and Milton Keynes.  We are still family owned and our new site at Rother Valley will bring together all the best bits of all our other resorts, including many new and exciting attractions.

'As a family we are very excited to be developing in the Sheffield City Region. This funding will allow us to bring forward a number of elements of the resort that would have not been built until later phases, creating a more exciting resort for our guests to experience and more jobs for local residents.'