Since we started Save Marlow’s Greenbelt over 18 months ago we have been overwhelmed with the support to our community cause. A growing committee continue to meet regularly to discuss the local threats to our Greenbelt. We have run many events such as cakes sales, walking events and an online auction to raise funds to support our cause.
There have been multiple planning applications that have been submitted for inappropriate development on our Greenbelt. Several have gone quiet but the main threat, the Marlow Film Studio, continues.
We have raised over £19,000 which has helped us continue to protect our Greenbelt and reach out to our community. Some of these funds have been spent as follows:
flyers, banners and communication aides
engaging consultants to help support objections
We wanted to thank everyone for their support. This has come through monetary donations, volunteering at events, sharing our social media posts and much more. We cannot continue to grow without your support and for that we are grateful.
As we see more detail coming in from MFS application, more resources are required to protect our cause. We cannot do this on our own. We do not have the skills or the experience required in each area of expertise. The way forward now is to continue to engage specialists to help support us.
Thank you everyone for your support so far. Please continue to donate if you can.
We are pleased to announce that our first Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday 18th April 7.30pm at The Pavilion, Church Road, Little Marlow, Marlow SL7 3RS. Parking will be available at the venue.
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.
Please bring along your friends and neighbours as we welcome all supporters for our cause.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Richard Sherwin, David Porter, Oyku Tevfik, Sam Kershaw
Do you feel like you have been deceived by the very expensive PR campaign by the developers behind the proposed Marlow Film Studio project?
Or have you changed your mind about the plans after understanding the reality and the true negative impact it would have on our community, infrastructure and natural environment?
Don’t worry there’s still time to have your say, even if you initially thought it may be a good thing for a few local jobs.
Click here for advice and a quick and easy one-click way to voice your concerns.
The current BBC Wild Isles program is not only showcasing the amazing wildlife we have in the UK, but also highlights the rapid decline and identifies the need for us to act to bring about nature recovery through restoration.
The 90 acres of wildlife and biodiversity-rich habitats, home to multiple priority and protected species, is such a vital lifeline but at risk of being concreted over for yet another film studio.
We are facing a climate and nature crisis. Unnecessary and inappropriate developments like the proposed Marlow Film Studios, on these precious habitats, is reckless and irresponsible, when more suitable alternatives are available.
“Whoever you are, wherever you live, we must all play a role in restoring nature. Whether you’re an individual, a community, a business leader or a politician, together we can use our decisions, and time, to bring nature back to life.”
Sir David Attenborough
Please object to inappropriate development in Marlow’s Greenbelt and submit your comments even if you have done this before! Buckinghamshire Council have put a new deadline of 9th April.
Dido Property Limited have submitted amended plans and Buckinghamshire Council is inviting new comments. Obviously, all of this amounts to window-dressing without addressing the fundamental issue of an unnecessary monstrosity in Marlow’s Greenbelt.
Please object and submit your comments even if you have done this before! Buckinghamshire Council have put a deadline of 9th April and it is again unclear whether this is a “soft” or “hard” deadline.
You can add your own reasons why, but our top reasons, underpinned by our planning consultant’s report (to be released soon), are:
The integrity of the Greenbelt should be protected. Even at a national level, the Government has committed to protecting and enhancing the Greenbelt.
The “sequential test” is flawed and just a self-serving exercise to try and claim that Dido Property Limited’s land is “most preferable”.
The economic analysis performed by LSH on behalf of the Council clearly states that there is sufficient studio capacity in the pipeline, the proposed scale is unnecessary and the requirement of the “West London Cluster” is overstated.
The proposed changes, e.g. to transport, do not change the underlying flawed logic to destroy the Greenbelt and the Little Marlow Lakes Country Park.
If you want it easy, you can use this one-click link to generate an email in your standard email app, ready to send & object.
While you are at it – don’t forget to ask friends & family from across the UK to object as well. Distance appears to be no issue to support, so why should it be to object?
Guernsey-registered Dido Property Limited have submitted “improvements” to their traffic plan by introducing a massive round about on the A4155. However, the congestion caused by more than two thousand extra vehicles is not going to be mitigated by a roundabout. The A404 and A4155 Marlow Road simply don’t have the capacity. National Highways has expressed serious concerns about the developer’s traffic model and this attempt to appease them is akin to repositioning a couple of deckchairs on the Titanic. In no way does it address the fundamental issue or does compensate it for the huge damage that this monstrous development will cause.
Under the title “The Berkshire film studio bringing Hollywood magic to the UK”, the BBC has published an article on their exclusive access to the film studios under construction at Shinfield (near Reading).
You can look at the 360° video of the construction site on the article page. It gives you a good idea of what a film studio actually looks like: a very big warehouse…
Property consultants Lambert Smith Hampton have cast serious doubt on claims by Marlow Film Studios that the proposed site is the only viable location and that refusal of the plan would have a negative effect on the future of the UK film and High-End Television (HETV) industry.
The 20-page report “struggles” with the proposal’s argument that the studio’s success is dependent upon its proximity to a “Critical Mass” of film production professionals from the “West London Cluster” (WLC). It slams the applicant’s claim that “the WLC is the only place in the UK that can attract major HETV” as “fundamentally untrue” and states that “there is now precedent and acceptance amongst the production fraternity that other locations now present viable and cost effective options with both the infrastructure and the degree of established crew to facilitate production”. Numerous examples are provided to back this up including “Game of Thrones” which was based in Belfast.
This is a major setback for Marlow Film Studios because it undermines the “sequential analysis” used to justify building on the Green Belt in Little Marlow.
The LSH report also points out that the Marlow Film Studios case rests on an assumption that there will be a significant gap between the growing demand for studio space and the amount under development.
The report says
We consider the submission’s development pipeline estimates to materially understate the potential sites under consideration …. we consider the combination of sites recently delivered, sites with planning consent or expansion to existing facilities if all built out to be sufficient to address the majority of unmet demand
Richard Sherwin, Chairman of Save Marlow’s Greenbelt, which opposes the studio plan says:
This report supports our belief that these property developers don’t understand the film industry and that they only selected Little Marlow because Green Belt land offers bigger profits. The studio will offer insignificant benefits and it is now clear that it could be successfully built elsewhere without the devastating impact on our town, our environment and our roads. Bucks Council must refuse the application.
With the film studio planning application still undecided (and as yet unclear when the Bucks Strategic Sites Committee will meet about it – so you can still object) and the van storage application withdrawn, two new planning applications have appeared in the Little Marlow Lakes Country Park.
Football pitches
The first one (planning application 22/08176/FUL) is to put in place 5 grass football pitches next to the Athletics track (and thus involving Buckinghamshire Council). It is not as extensive as ideas being floated in 2021, but strange nonetheless.
This is what the proposal looks like:
The ground will be levelled, the pitches will be put in place, together with some other “biodiversity improvements” (hedgerows, trees, wildflowers) as per their plan. However, it is unclear how anyone is expected to access these pitches from either the footpath (blocked by an existing and retained hedgerow) or the car park (from the “retained grassland” indicated as parking above on which they are parked, through the “wildflower grassland”?). How long before it all turns into a mudbath?
Another curiosity is the applicant. in one document the customer is listed as “Brenard Leisure” – the closest we can find is Brenard Properties Limited, linked to Michael Shanly (one of its directors). Some of the documents also have their title as the document location: P:\1293 Shanly Group Little Marlow\8.0 Drawings in Progress\8.2 Revit\01-WIP Data\1293 Site Plan Reduced option.pdf
So there will be just football pitches. “For the avoidance of doubt, no floodlighting, seating, changing, clubhouse, or other buildings/structures are proposed as part of this planning application.”
Who will use a football pitch during the day, with only natural lighting? Not that many people, but it is about the principle of having pitches available:
“The football pitches will be available for use by the local community and clubs. The applicant is currently in discussion with a number of local football teams / clubs who have identified a need for both training and match pitches. The application seeks to establish the principle of pitches on this site to enable these discussions to continue.”
So no lighting etc. in this application. But an intention to seek a variation on the approved planning application to make full use of the pitches, with additional buildings and floodlighting. Yes, now it makes sense.
It is clear that the application as proposed will not be useful to the community or the general public – is it just preparing the ground, literally, for something that will have a major impact on the community and Greenbelt?
Car parking on Fieldhouse Lane
Meanwhile, in the southwestern corner of the Little Marlow Lakes Country Park, Folbo Y Ltd seeks to make its temporary car park permanent (planning application 22/08240/FUL), plus expand it from 200 to 271 spaces.
The current temporary planning consent for the car park for 200 spaces expires on 31st January 2023, so there is a bit of time pressure on this one! That explains why comments need to be in by then… An application in July 2021 was refused on it being inappropriate development in the Green Belt, on “a failure to contribute towards the outdoor recreational function of the (…) Country Park” and on a lack of positive impact on biodiversity.
So this planning application offers some olive branches to address this:
the car park will be open to members of the public at the weekend
“upgrades to the existing footpath and cycleway” – or rather no longer blocking the path which we claimed in 2021.
plant more native trees and species, and mitigate flood risk
No EV chargers or secure bike parking facilities though, so it is definitely not future-proofed.
If this planning application is not approved at the end of the month – will the car park be decommissioned, removed or just abandoned? Where will the Softcat commuters go? On the portal, there is already support from people on the Harleyford Estate (linked to Folbro Y Ltd?) and from Maidenhead & Wantage…
Who will the car parking benefit, really? Softcat, who provided the needs statement? The public, to visit the Country Park – but at what cost? Or the film studio out of usual hours, with a path linking to the main footpath that links to the heart of their monstrous proposal?
Commenting
You can add your comments via the planning portal or email planning.wyc@buckinghamshire.gov.uk with the planning reference number (one email per planning application). Don’t forget to add your name and address when you use this route. Save Marlow’s Greenbelt is seeking more information and considering its position on both proposals.
We have had news that the commercial van parking planning application has been withdrawn. This will be in no small part thanks to the objections that you have all submitted. So: thank you!
