Chessington World of Adventures will open a new themed land with a rollercoaster, children's ride and play areas.

The popular resort will redevelop one of its oldest areas to wow visitors, after the plans were approved by Kingston Council.

Owner Merlin Entertainments will replace Wild Asia, which has some of Chessington's oldest rides and buildings, and a neighbouring glamping site with the new themed land.

Only one existing ride, known as Kobra, will be kept and rethemed for the new attraction.

The new themed land will have a rollercoaster with indoor and outdoor sections, immersive children's rides, themed play areas and sensory environments for families with children aged six to 12.

It will have new food and drink outlets with themed menus, a courtyard and a shop selling exclusive merchandise.

Details of the theme chosen for the new land will be revealed in due course.

Construction work is expected to begin this year and be completed by 2027.

The council's planning committee unanimously approved the scheme on 26 March.

Lib Dem councillor Jackie Davies said: "I think it's a shame to cover up what is a lot of open land with a big building.

"On the other hand… indoor rides and outdoor rides [provide the] best of both worlds, it takes a lot of people out of the queue for the other rides, so I'm definitely in favour of it."

Conservative councillor Ian George added the authority 'should be supportive of a company that's coming to invest in Kingston and provide a better service'.

Planning documents warned visitor numbers will decline at Chessington without investment, with fewer people visiting the resort in 2023 than before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019.

They said the new themed land will deliver a 'wow factor' to refresh Chessington's offer and upgrade an area long overdue for investment.

The glamping site that will be removed, known as Explorer Glamping, only has temporary permission to stay open until September 2025.

The documents said: "The 'need' to continue investing in the right way is critical to the resort's success, and in doing so will help to ensure it is able to compete with other leisure/visitor attractions in the South East, e.g. Paultons Park in Hampshire and Warner Bros. Studio Tour London 'The Making of Harry Potter'."

They added: "Merlin is very keen for the resort to become a year-round attraction, and the indoor elements proposed in the new themed land would help this transition.

"This 'evolution' will add to the attractiveness of the resort to guests and will help to 'smooth' the visitor number profile, potentially reducing the summer peak and spreading this into other months."

Chessington first opened to the public as a zoo in 1931.

It was later transformed into a theme park and now has more than 1,000 animals in its zoo and sealife centre, over 40 rides and attractions, two themed hotels and a Go Ape course.

Merlin has wider plans to improve Chessington by opening a new waterpark with themed water slides, wave, infinity and spa pools, lazy and rapid rivers, an aqua play area, a splash pad, safari 'beach', cabanas, a snack bar and café.

It submitted plans last year to expand the resort's safari hotel to build the waterpark in a bid to rival the likes of Disney and Universal Studios.

The council will decide on this application in due course.