News

The Statement of Case that Save Marlow’s Greenbelt has submitted has now been published and you can read a copy here.

Our volunteers, together with the legal team and experts, are now putting together evidence to substantiate our position.

Whilst our fundraising campaign continues we would like to thank all of you who have supported us so far.

Over 200 people attended SMG’s emergency meeting last month to hear the latest news on the Film Studio appeal and to help us with our fundraising efforts. This has been a huge success and in just over a month you have helped us raise over £26,000 which is fantastic – thank you all very much indeed!

Your donations have enabled us to instruct a barrister who will represent us at the forthcoming inquiry which starts on the 21st January 2025. This is a huge step forward and will enable us to put up a strong fight.

We will argue that Dido Property (Guernsey) Ltd has not justified the Studio’s harm to the Green Belt. Specifically, we will explain why their claims for generating employment and economic growth are unclear, insubstantial and uncertain. Our Statement of Case has now been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate and will be publicly available for you to read in the next few days.

Our next task is to prepare evidence for our case. For this we will need more professional services. We will also need professional support in raising public awareness about the damage the scheme would cause and about its lack of benefits to the economy.

For this we will need to raise more funds. If you are considering donating but just haven’t managed to get around to it, please can we urge you to do this today. If you are happy to donate again then please do so. And please spread the word!

We desperately need funds to fight the planning appeal submitted by the film studio developers, which will go to an inquiry in January 2025. These funds are required for barrister representation and other consultant experts, in order to ensure that our message is put forward in the most robust manner. Your support is vital to help us protect our greenbelt.

We are looking to raise at least £75,000 in a short space of time. If you can afford a donation of £100 that would be fantastic. If not, please donate any amount that you can, even if it is spread over several months.

If you are in a position where you can make a larger donation and would like some advice on how best to do that, please contact David Porter, the SMG treasurer, at treasurer@savemarlowsgreenbelt.org.

Thank you for all your support so far, the fight is not over and we still need you.

We are delighted to announce that our second Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 30th October at 7.30 pm. We will be holding this event at Liston Hall, Chapel Street, Marlow SL7 1DD.

There is a Pay & Display car park just next door to Liston Hall in Liston Rd. Parking after 7 pm is free of charge.

We are looking forward to meeting you and discussing what we have achieved so far and our plans going forward, for Save Marlow’s Greenbelt.

This week has also seen formal confirmation of an appeal against refusal of permission by Dido Property Ltd which will be determined on the basis of an inquiry. Please do come along to hear the latest on the film studio appeal, how Save Marlow’s Greenbelt plans to get involved and how you can help.

Save Marlow’s Greenbelt is opposed to the Film Studio for the same reasons that led to its refusal by Buckinghamshire Council. There is no justification for the devastating impact it would have on the environment and community because the British film industry already has more than enough studios. It could not and would not generate any incremental employment or economic growth.

We have no doubt that the studio’s backers have been lobbying the government to approve their appeal in the hope that proposed changes to the greenbelt regulations will work in their favour. However, these changes are to address the housing crisis, not to enable wealthy property developers to make a quick buck by building an unnecessary studio on “cheap” land. We trust that the Secretary of State will recognise this and leave the inspector to determine the appeal on established planning principles.

We are surprised that the developers have decided to appeal given the strength of the refusal by Buckinghamshire Council and their inability to mitigate the significant harm that the studio would cause.

However, we will continue to fight against it and look forward to participating inthe inquiry.

Save Marlow’s Green Belt is delighted with the decision to refuse the Marlow Film Studio planning application. There can now be no doubt that the harm caused by this development would far outweigh its benefits. We would like to thank all those people who have supported our campaign.

The applicant claims that the studio would benefit the film industry and help young people. We disagree. Over the last three years the amount of studio space has doubled and there is now more than enough to meet demand. And local young people are already well served by over ten studios that are within a 30 minutes’ drive of Marlow. Including Pinewood and a brand new one just up the road in Wycombe.

The planning committee clearly agrees that the lack of certainty over the benefits and the absolute certainty of the harm means that Marlow is the wrong place for a development of this type. It would create traffic chaos, destroy the environment and cause huge damage to the local community.

The recent parish poll, in which 85% of voters said “No” to the studio, shows that the vast majority of the community also agree with us. This is despite the applicant spending millions trying to convince them otherwise.

We hope that Dido Property Limited now recognises that the studio isn’t needed, it isn’t wanted and it can never be justified. We recommend that they don’t throw good money after bad by going to appeal and that they draw a line under this sorry episode.

SMG will continue its campaign to protect the local greenbelt from inappropriate development so that its benefits are secured for future generations.

Save Marlow’s Green Belt is delighted that the Planning Officer has recommended that the application should be refused. His report is absolutely clear that the many significant harms caused by the development would significantly outweigh its vague and insubstantial benefits. It won’t generate growth, it won’t create 2,000 jobs, it won’t provide meaningful training and it
won’t benefit Buckinghamshire. But it will create traffic chaos, it will ruin the landscape, it will destroy the environment and it will harm the community. It has no merit whatsoever.

“The proposal will lead to very substantial harm to the Green Belt adversely affecting the setting of the Chilterns AONB and landscape character of the area. The impact on the highway network and the environment is substantially negative. Overall, notwithstanding the benefits of the scheme taken together, it is considered that the benefits do not “clearly outweigh” the Green Belt and other harm. The applicant has not demonstrated ’very special circumstances’ to justify inappropriate development in the Green Belt”

John Fannon, Buckinghamshire Council Planning Officer Report 21/5/24

We are certain that those 85% of Marlovians who voted against this development in a recent Parish Poll will join us in urging the council’s Strategic Sites Committee to follow the Officer’s recommendation and decide against it on the 30th May.

Over 2,000 Marlow residents voted in the Parish Poll on the Film Studio today and overwhelmingly, with 85% of the votes against, rejected the Marlow Film Studio and large scale development in our Greenbelt.

This sends a clear message to Councillors and to the developers, ahead of the Strategic Sites Committee meeting on 30th May.

You may have seen a post about Marlow Film Studios from their CEO, Robert Laycock. Here is our response.

Mr Laycock’s “filmmaking career” doesn’t seem to amount to much. His IMDb entry indicates he did some editing work on a few films between 1995 and 1999. His LinkedIn profile says he is a Producer at “Fight & Flight” – a company that has liabilities of £41k and was subject to a compulsory strike of order in 2023. Not quite the background we would expect from someone who wants to build and run a film studio and, to be honest, it doesn’t give us any confidence that he knows much about the film industry at all.

However, he’s right that the UK has a world-class TV & film business. But the sad truth is that it just isn’t growing anymore. The maturation of the streaming industry means that global investment is now forecast to be flat. And the UK’s share of that investment has decreased by 40% with unemployment rates now standing at over 60%.

This isn’t due to a lack of studios, or Covid or the actors strike – it’s because the streaming boom has ended and production activity has returned to normal levels. The boom led to a rapid expansion in the number of UK studios and there are now more than enough of them. In fact, many are now operating at half capacity, expansion plans have
been cancelled and some have actually gone bust. Mr Laycock has missed the boat and if the studio is ever built then it will make a bad situation much worse.

Mr Laycock promises 2,000 new jobs at the studio. Sounds impressive, but there’s no explanation of where these numbers came from. Studios themselves only employ a handful of people (Pinewood employs less than 40, Shinfield less than 10). Almost all the jobs are actually provided by the production companies that rent out the studio space. So the number of jobs is clearly outside Mr Laycock’s control – his estimates are worthless.

Anyway, almost all the jobs at film studios (including non-production work like catering, security and trades) are taken by freelancers who travel wherever the work is. If you’re not already in the TV & film business, then your chances of getting a job there are almost zero.

And with the sky-high unemployment levels, reduced investment and a surplus of studio space, there isn’t any possibility of Marlow Films Studio creating additional employment in the industry. All it can do is to provide an alternative workplace for existing freelancers, most of whom live in West London.

Nothing can be done to prevent the harm caused by the 2,000 of them commuting to and from the studio every day. And the transport proposals offer nothing else of any value. Consequently, Bucks Highways and National Highways have strongly criticised the proposals and both have recommended that the application should be turned down by the planning committee.

That’s because their analysis makes it clear that Marlow Film Studios will lead to:

• Severe congestion over a wide area
• Safety issues, particularly on the Westhorpe roundabout
• Parking on residential streets by film workers, taxi drivers and lorries.

These same problems are experienced on a daily basis by the residents of Iver, who live in the shadow of Pinewood Studios.

Training for local residents? The truth is that they committed to a total of 60 training places a year, with only a fraction of them dedicated to local people. And the budget for this training is just £147 per person per month – check out their planning applications, it’s all there in black and white.

And, by the way, if your kids want to work in the film industry then there are already 15 studios within half an hour’s drive – including Pinewood!

The proposed site was indeed a former landfill site, but it’s not derelict – it’s an area that supports a valuable ecosystem. And, because it’s Greenbelt land, its openness helps to protect the character of Marlow and surrounding villages. A huge, ugly studio that looms over the town and is visible for miles around would totally destroy that character. We want Bucks Council to fulfil their promises and turn the entire area into a proper country park where families can enjoy recreation in nature.

Make no mistake, the only people that could possibly benefit from Marlow Film Studios are Mr Laycock and his colleagues. For the rest of us, it will be an unmitigated disaster.

The facts don’t lie – Vote NO on Thursday.