With space for more than 1,500 passengers, glitzy interiors, yards of open deck space and even a helicopter landing pad it promises to be the perfect venue for blue chip events in the heart of London.

But it doesn’t look like it will all be plain sailing for the Ocean Diva.

Plans for the boat - which will be the length of a football pitch - have been roundly condemned as a threat to the River Thames’s delicate environment, air quality and passenger safety.

Opponents say work to build a mooring station for the Ocean Diva would dredge up toxins from the river bed, threatening river wildlife, and once on the Thames it’s powerful diesel electric hybrid engines would spew out harmful emissions at a time of growing concern over London’s air quality.

The boat’s Anglo-Dutch backers want to be able to moor it close to London Bridge, just yards from where the Marchioness pleasure cruiser sank with the loss of 51 lives after colliding with a dredger in August 1989.