Extinction Rebellion protest held outside inquiry into Marlow Film Studios

The company appealed after Buckinghamshire Council refused its plans last year, claiming the proposed movie-making hub would ‘harm the green belt’.

Planning inspector Katie McDonald is now re-examining the plans at the council’s offices in High Wycombe as she chairs the inquiry into the film studios, which is due to conclude on 24 February.

However, the final say on whether or not to approve the project will be made by Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister and housing secretary, who ‘called in’ the application in October.

Here, we answer some of the main questions about the inquiry, the film studios and the arguments being made for and against the development.

What is Marlow Film Studios?

In 2022, Dido applied for planning permission to build the studios on land in Little Marlow to the south of the A4155 Marlow Road and to the east of the A404.

Located entirely in the green belt, the existing site is mostly open fields with some trees, although it was formerly used for quarrying and landfill.

Dido proposed to build a ‘high-end’ film and TV production facility on the land, which would measure 168,718 square metres.

Its plans for the facility included 18 sound stages and studios, 19 workshops, a backlot for outdoor filming, offices and 1,117 car parking spaces – including two multistorey car parks.

Dido also planned cafes, a reception, bike storage, a creche, health and fitness rooms, an exhibition and event atrium, screening rooms, bars, a ‘skills and culture academy’, upgraded vehicular access onto Marlow Road and other facilities.

Why did the council reject plans for the studios?

In May 2024, the council’s strategic sites committee voted to refuse to grant Dido permission to build the studios.

Councillors gave nine reasons for rejecting the plans, including the ‘harm’ they claimed the proposed film complex would cause to green belt land.

Building in protected green belt land is generally forbidden apart from in ‘very special circumstances’.

The committee said Dido had not shown that the benefits of studios outweighed the harm they would cause.

It also claimed the studios would result in the loss of land set aside to formally create ‘Little Marlow Lakes Country Park’ – the council now plans to use land around Spade Oak Lake for this purpose.

Other reasons for refusal included visual impact and road safety, with the council claiming the studios could result in increased traffic and lead to additional on-street parking.

What has happened at the inquiry so far?

Day One saw an Extinction Rebellion protest outside the council’s office, while inside, dozens of members of the public, press and interested parties packed the inquiry room.

Those gathered first heard from Sasha White KC, a barrister for Landmark Chambers acting for Dido, who claimed in his opening statement the studios would be a ‘gamechanger’ for the ‘economic health’ of Buckinghamshire and the country.

He referenced the new Labour government’s update to national planning policy last month, which said councils should ‘making provision’ for creative industries.

The barrister also claimed the film studios site fell under Labour’s new ‘grey classification of ‘grey belt’ land.

This term refers to green belt land which does ‘not make a strong contribution’ to the principles of the green belt and ‘poor quality’ or previously developed green belt.

Mr White said: “Therefore, now with the dramatic introduction as of December 2024 of the concept in policy of ‘grey belt’, the scheme would not in our view be an inappropriate development in the green belt, and accordingly the council’s primary reason for refusal falls away.”

He went on to argue that even if this was not the case, the ‘very special circumstances’ test were met by the ‘very powerful benefits’ Dido says the studios will bring, such as the 4,000 jobs it claims will be created.

The barrister also accused the council of relying on ‘out-of-date’ policies in allocating land for what he called the ‘undeliverable’ Little Marlow Lakes Country Park.

He added that the council’s reasons for refusal were ‘unjustified’ in May 2024 but have ‘been rendered even more unsupportable’ due to Labour’s changes to planning policy.

What were the council’s counter-arguments?

Arguing for the council was Simon Bird, who said the authority did not accept the site could be classed as ‘grey belt’.

He said the council was not a ‘blocker’ of growth and had previously granted permission for the ‘very significant expansion’ of Pinewood Studios in Iver onto green belt land.

Mr Bird also pointed out that the council supported the development of the ‘Wycombe Film Studios’ on land released from the green belt before the recent abandonment of that project due to market unviability.

The barrister countered Dido’s claims that the studios were ‘what the film industry needs’ and that there was market appetite for them.

Mr Bird claimed the developer had drafted its plans during the ‘peak of the streaming wars’ in 2022, but that the market had slowed since then.

He added: “Due to a combination of concerns about demand, competing supply overhang and construction inflation, very few new pipeline developments have commenced since 2022.”

“The council’s experience reflects this with progress on the Pinewood expansion on hold and the Wycombe Studios proposals being abandoned.”

Who else has spoken at the inquiry?

On Tuesday, the inquiry also heard evidence from Joe Macneil, who lives at Westhorpe Park, a park homes site to the south of the film studios site.

The resident claimed the filmmaking hub would be ‘overbearing’, given the huge infrastructure planned such as the sound stages, which will mainly be ‘large black boxes up to 22m high’.

He said: “The adverse impacts that this imposing development promises to Westhorpe residents have been deliberately and persistently downplayed by a cynical developer whose biased public engagement misleadingly purports that the land is ‘despoiled’ and ‘irreparably altered’.”

Another resident of the 56-home site, Verity West, also told the inquiry many residents of Westhorpe Park were ‘elderly and vulnerable’ and had already ‘suffered enormously due to the stress and uncertainty’ of the film studios plans.

She said: “Some of my elderly neighbours have said they hope they die before it gets built, if permission is given. Sadly, one lovely lady had her wish granted.”