Top MP's public backing for Marlow Film Studios 'an error of judgement', say campaigners

Campaigners against a divisive film studios project near Marlow say a top politician made ‘an error of judgement’ when she declared her backing for it.

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy, claimed that Marlow Film Studios was ‘a thoroughly good project’ in an interview with the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

But campaigners who have long been fighting the studios, planned for greenbelt land off the A404 in Little Marlow, hit back at the cabinet minister’s comments.

A spokesperson for Save Marlow’s Greenbelt (SMG) said the MP’s comments risked ‘damaging public confidence’ in the planning system.

The spokesperson also hit back at a question of economic need for the studios, which they compared to ‘building a call centre while the world’s moving to chatbots’.

Claims that the studios would boost the national economy were ‘undermined by Angela Rayner’s recent decision to refuse Holyport Studios’, they said.

Holyport Film Studios was rejected in June this year.

A report on the decision suggested one of the reasons for the refusal was an existing surplus of film studio space.

The SMG spokesperson said: “How can Marlow Film Studios deliver any economic benefits if no more capacity is needed?”

In an interview during a visit to a school in Buckinghamshire earlier this month, Ms Nandy said Marlow Film Studios would help ‘inspire a whole generation of young people’ to enter the film industry.

Ms Nandy said: “I have made clear my view that this is a thoroughly good project, that will bring great economic benefit and opportunities to Marlow.

“I am really keen to see that progress.

“I was at Pinewood Studios recently and saw for myself what they are doing to inspire a whole generation of young people to be able to go into the film industry.

“We are really keen to see these opportunities extended to young people in Marlow, and the surrounding area.

“Obviously, there is a planning process to go through, but we have already acted to make the planning process far more streamlined, and helping to ensure that we get the infrastructure built that we need.”

Ms Nandy also claimed planning authorities were working ‘hand in glove’ with developer Dido Properties Ltd over the project.

However, Save Marlow’s Greenbelt campaigners, felt this claim was a step too far.

“Ms Nandy's comments prejudge the findings of the inquiry and her admission that ‘we are working hand in glove with the company’ risks damaging public confidence in the integrity of the planning system,” the SMG spokesperson said. They said it was ‘surprising that someone in her position would make such an error of judgement’.

The spokesperson said: “It is surprising that on Ms Nandy’s visit to Pinewood she didn't grasp that the studio’s decision to build a huge data centre, instead of more sound stages, is a clear indication film producers’ needs have changed.”

“It’s like building a call centre while the world’s moving to chatbots.”

The Government Planning Inspectorate previously told the Advertiser that a decision on Marlow Film Studios was likely to come next month.