Clash over ‘green belt’ film studios looks set for sequel

An MP has vowed she “will continue to fight” the government’s decision to approve the construction of a sprawling £750m film studio complex after it was rejected by her local council.

- DAN HAYGARTH

Backed by Titanic director James Cameron and Sir Sam Mendes, director of 1917 and Skyfall, the Marlow Film Studios project promises to build a “unique media campus at the heart of the west London cluster”. The development would include production space for film and TV, as well as supporting buildings such as backlots and 18 sound stages on land adjacent to Marlow Road and Westhorpe Farm Lane on the outskirts of Marlow, Buckinghamshire.

Those behind the development say it would create 4,000 jobs, but Buckinghamshire Council rejected the application in 2024, citing concerns over development on green belt land, the impact on the landscape and potential traffic issues.

The decision came after campaigning from Beaconsfield MP Joy Morrissey and local group Save Marlow’s Green Belt, which said the project would “cause significant and lasting harm to the environment, the local community, and the landscape”.

Last week, in a move emblematic of chancellor Rachel Reeves’s wish to grow the economy through approving more planning applications even in the face of local opposition, the Labour government overturned the decision.

The minister of state for housing and planning, Matthew Pennycook, said secretary of state Steve Reed had granted planning permission. Though a government planning inspector noted the development could harm the area visually, they concluded that the economic benefits outweighed those concerns.