Plans to turn a former coal mine in South Yorkshire, UK, into a £37m (US$46m, €43.1m) theme park and resort have been approved by councillors.

The plan by Gulliver’s Family Theme Parks includes a family-oriented theme park with an indoor water play zone, self catering woodland lodges and tree houses, a 100-bedroom hotel and an array of attractions. The theme park will include a Nerf Zone, as well as an indoor climbing centre and Gully’s dream village – an area where children with life-threatening illnesses can enjoy cost-free respite from their conditions.

In addition to the theme park, the development caters to the wider community, with multi-use nature trails for the public, a woodland adventure centre focused on outdoor activities, an education and ecology centre with forest classrooms and a free-to-use outdoor gym.

The 333-acre Pithouse West site was purchased from Rother District Council in September 2015, with the plans approved by Rotherham Council. The project has a final hurdle to clear before development can begin, as it has been designated an “inappropriate” development owing to part of the land sitting on an area of green belt. As a result, the decision will be referred to Andrea Leadsom, secretary of state for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who has 21 days to raise any objections before the project is signed off.

Construction is expected to start before the end of 2017, with the first phase of development including the theme park and associated areas to be open by 2020. The full development will come over “four or five” phases over a 12-year period, dependent on market conditions.