Holyport Film Studios: Angela Rayner decides more time needed to deliver verdict

A decision on Holyport Film Studios has been delayed for a month by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.

The Secretary of State had been expected to add her name to the credits of the film studios saga when she delivered a verdict on Thursday (May 29).

But a letter from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said ‘further time is required to consider the studios plan’.

It said ‘the Secretary of State hereby gives notice that she has varied the timetable previously set and she will now issue her decision on or before 26 June 2025.

“We aim to issue the decision as quickly as possible.”

Holyport Film Studios, planned for Gays Lane, is a multi-million-pound bid by developer Greystoke Land to build a sprawling film and TV complex on greenbelt land near the village.

Objected to by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, the developer lodged an appeal to the Government Planning Inspectorate which argued its plan should be approved.

Angela Rayner ‘called in’ the application to give her the final say on Holyport Film Studios in October, and a subsequent two-week public inquiry thrashed out the plans a month after.

James Camplin, of the Holyport and Fifield Community Action Group – one of the rule-6 parties involved in the public inquiry – said: “We did think, if they’re going to serve a notice like that they would have done it before - they wouldn’t have left it until the 28th or 29th.”

Mr Camplin added: “You are prolonging the anxiety – its another four weeks.”

He questioned whether the decision had been delayed so it could be compared against plans for Marlow Film Studios – another controversial proposal in Buckinghamshire.

The Planning Inspectorate told the Advertiser that a report on Marlow Film Studios was set to be delivered to the Secretary of State in mid-July and a ‘target’ for a decision would be three months from then.

Asked whether anything could have changed to affect the Secretary of State’s decision, Mr Camplin said: “There’s no demand for [new] film studios.”

He said landowners were considering alternative options to film studio plans and others had backed out of expanding.

Greystoke Land was approached for comment.