Marvel Studios production company gets approval to film at Windsor Great Park

A Marvel film production company has been given the green light to create a temporary film set in Windsor Great Park.

For All Time Productions Ltd UK asked the council for temporary planning permission to build a film set, tech and unit bases on Crown Estate land for six months.

The filming period is four days in June, and two areas of land approximately 430 metres apart near Duke’s Lane are needed to facilitate the set build, construction and removal after the location shooting.

“I am reliably informed it is one of the largest, if not the largest, single production filming in the UK this year,” said Nicholas Day from the Crown Estate senior management team at Windsor.

Mr Day, who manages all filming activity on the Estate, praised the Pinewood Studios-based applicant at Wednesday’s extraordinary Windsor and Ascot development management committee.

“Disney and Apple Pie Productions have worked tirelessly with us over a period of many months to meet all our demands and requirements,” he said.

“I think we should be quite proud to be hosting it in the borough.”

Set plans submitted by the film production firm depict a temporary ‘Luke Cage house’ in the style of a 1960s bungalow with a raised gravel drive.

Luke Cage is a Marvel comic superhero, affiliated with the ‘New Avengers’.

Speculation on entertainment news websites suggests the filming could be Avengers: Doomsday, the fifth instalment in the Avengers series, which began filming in the UK earlier this year.

The production company will establish a tech base for filming equipment and crew, north of the film set, near Duke’s Lane, in the Windsor Great Park Special Area of Conservation.

Another base south of the site will be established for crew, props, catering and construction marquees in a field next to ancient woodland known as Dark Wood.

The proximity and impact on veteran oak trees near the proposed film set attracted criticism from the council’s tree officers during the consultation period.

However, the council’s planning department confirmed the sets will be built outside the buffer zones protecting ancient woodland and ageing trees.

Natural England raised no further objections and confirmed that all structures fall outside these ‘root protection areas’, and council officers confirmed it is essentially an ‘area of flat grassland’.

Councillor Gurch Singh proposed an additional planning condition to confirm that no greywater would be discharged on the land.

“The production has taken on board the concerns raised by both tree and ecology officers from RBWM and have continued to make changes as you've seen to the proposal to ensure that all of the officers' concerns have been fully met,” added Mr Day.

“After a few difficult years with COVID and then the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strike, the British film industry is resurging.”

The filming period is proposed for June 15 and 18, and again on June 26-27.

The plans could see up to 300 cars heading to the two sites within the Great Park during the ‘peak’ preparation and filming periods.

Up to 15 minibuses will also transport crew to and from the site, with 25 technical trucks expected to be parked during the shoot.

However, the impact on highways is ‘comparable’ to any other fair or market in the locality, according to council officers.

There are also plans for ‘surfacing’ to ensure big lorries don’t damage the ground, and proposed conditions require ‘all land to be remedied to its original state’.

Officers said the application further reiterates the Borough’s role as forming part of the West London Cluster, which supports the film industry in this area owing to its proximity to Heathrow.

They raised economic benefits through ancillary expenditure, employment in service industries and enhanced interest in the Windsor Great Park as a visitor attraction.

Councillor Devon Davies put forward the motion, adding: This seems like a marvellous application in more ways than one.”

Councillor Mark Wilson seconded the motion, and the committee unanimously approved the application.